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COMMUNITY  TRAINING  SCHOOL  SERIES        NORMAN  E.  RICHARDSON,  Editor 

HOW    TO    TEACH 
RELIGION 

PRINCIPLES  AND  METHODS 

BY 

GEORGE  HERBERT  BETTS 


LIBRARY  OF  PRINCETON 


MAY  17  2GC2 


THEOLOGICAL  SCMINARY 


THE  ABINGDON  PRESS 

NEW  YORK  CINCINNATI  CHICAGO 


Copyright,  1910,  by 
GEORGE  HERBERT  BETTS 


in  tfie 


trnlted  States  of  America 


Printed 

]  "irst  E^ion  Printed  July,  1919 
S  K:ond  P  inting.  December,  1919 

Third    'rinting,  March,  1920 
Poorth  Printing,  December,  1920 

Fifth  Printing.  April,  192 1 

Sixth  Printing,  February,  1922 

Seventh  Printing,  September,  1922 

Eighth  Printing,  March,  1923 

Ninth  Printing.  October,  1923 

Tenth  Printing,  July,  1924 

Eleventh  Printing,  December,  1924 

Twelfth  Printing,  March,  1925 

Thirteenth  Printing,  Febniary,  1926 

Fovirteenth  Printing,  November,  1926 

Fifteenth  Printing,  March,  1927 

Sixteenth  Printing,  January,  1928 

Saventeenth  Printing,  November,  1928 


DEDICATED  TO  THOSE  WHO  HAVE  IN  THEIR 
KEEPING  THE  RELIGIOUS  DESTINY  OP 
AMERICA — THE  TWO  MILLION  TEACHERS 
IN   OUR   CHURCH    SCHOOLS. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 


PAGE 


I.  The  Teacher  Himself 13 

Importance  of  the  teacher — Three  types  of  teachers — 
The  personal  factor  in  teaching  religion — Developing  the 
power  of  personality — ^The  cultivatable  factors  in  per- 
sonality— A  scale  for  determining  personality — The  teach- 
er's mastery  of  subject-matter — Methods  of  growth — 
Fields  of  mastery  demanded — Service  and  rewards — 
Problems  and  questions. 

11.  The  Great  Objective 30 

Two  great  objectives  in  teaching — Making  sure  of 
the  greater  objective — Teaching  children  versus  teaching 
subject-matter — Subject-matter  as  a  means  instead  of 
an  end — Success  in  instruction  to  be  measured  in  terms 
of  modified  life,  not  of  material  covered— The  goal  of 
a  constantly  developing  Christian  character  and  expe- 
rience— Problems  for  discussion. 

III.  The  Fourfold  Foundation 42 

What  the  four-fold  foimdation  consists  of:  (i)  right 
aims,  (2)  right  materials  to  reach  these  aims,  (3)  right 
organization  of  this  material  for  instruction,  (4)  right 
presentation  in  instruction — The  aim  of  teaching  re- 
ligion is  (i)  fruitful  knowledge,  (2)  right  religious  atti- 
tudes and  growing  consciousness  of  God,  (3)  power  and 
will  to  live  righteously — Selecting  subject-matter  to 
meet  these  ends — Principles  of  organization  of  material 
— ^The  problem  of  effective  presentation — Questions  for 
discussion. 

IV.  Religious  Knowledge  of  Most  Worth 58 

Not  all  religious  knowledge  of  equal  value — What  de- 
termines value  of  knowledge — ^Kind  of  knowledge  needed 
5 


6  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

by  child — Developing  the  child's  idea  of  God — Harm 
from  wrong  concepts  of  God — Giving  the  child  the  right 
concept  of  religion — The  qualities  by  which  religion 
should  be  defined  to  the  child — The  child's  knowledge 
of  the  Bible;  of  the  church;  of  religious  forms  of  ex- 
pression— Problems  and  questions. 

V.  Religious  Attitudes  to  be  Cultivated 76 

The  meaning  of  religious  attitudes — ^These  attitudes 
lie  at  the  basis  of  both  motives  and  character — Im- 
portance of  the  pupil's  attitudes  toward  the  church 
school  and  class — Enjoyment  of  the  lesson  hour  and 
the  growth  of  loyalty — The  sense  of  mastery  necessary 
to  mental  and  spiritual  growth — The  groimding  of  a 
continuous  interest  in  the  Bible  and  religion — Growth 
in  spiritual  warmth  and  responsiveness — The  cultivation 
of  ideals — The  training  of  fine  appreciations — Worthy 
loyalties  and  devotions — Clearness  of  God-consdousness 
— Questions  and  problems. 


VI.  Connecting  Religious  Instruction  With  Life  and 

Conduct 91 

ReKgious  instruction  must  carry  across  to  life  and 
conduct — Hence  necessity  of  finding  practical  outlet  in 
expression  for  feelings,  ideals,  emotions  and  attitudes 
resulting  from  instruction — ^The  setting  up  of  certain 
religious  habits — Expression  in  connection  with  the  life 
of  the  church — Expression  in  the  home  life — ^Expression 
in  the  community  and  pubHc  school  life — Expression 
in  worship  and  the  devotional  life — Problems  for  dis- 
cussion. 


VII.  The  Subject  Matter  of  Religious  Education 109 

The  Bible  the  great  source-book  of  religious  material 
— ^Yet  much  material  other  than  biblical  required — 
Principles  for  the  selection  of  material  from  the  Bible — 
Biblical  material  for  early  childhood;  for  later  child- 
hood; for  adolescence — Story  material  and  its  sources — 


CONTENTS  7 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Materials  from  nature — Materials  from  history  and 
biography — Picture  material  for  religious  teaching — Re- 
ligious music  for  children — Questions  and  problems. 

VIII.  The  Organization  of  Material 129 

Four  dififerent  types  of  organization — Organization  ap- 
plied (i)  to  the  curriculum  as  a  whole,  (2)  to  individual 
lessons — Haphazard  organization — Logical  organization 
— Chronological  organization — Psychological  organiza- 
tion— ^Three  types  of  curriculum  organization:  (i)  Uni- 
form lessons,  (2)  Graded  lessons,  (3)  text  books  of  re- 
ligion— Organizing  daily  lesson  material — Typical  lesson 
plans — Problems  for  discussion. 

IX.  The  Technique  of  Teaching 148 

Teaching  that  sticks — Attention  the  key — ^Tjrpes  of 
appeal  to  attention — The  control  of  interest — Interest 
and  action — Variety  and  change  as  related  to  interest 
— Social  contagion  of  interest — The  prevention  of  dis- 
tractions— ^The  control  of  conduct — Danger  points  in 
instruction — Establishing  and  maintaining  standards — 
Questions  and  problems. 

X.  Making  Truth  Vivid 165 

Vividness  of  impression  necessary  to  lasting  value — 
The  whole  mind  involved  in  religion — Learning  to  think 
in  religion — Protecting  children  against  intellectual  diffi- 
culties— The  appeal  of  religion  to  the  imagination — Guid- 
ing principles  for  the  reUgious  imagination — The  use  of 
the  memory  in  religion — Laws  of  memory — How  to 
memorize — Problems  for  discussion. 

XI.  Types  of  Teaching 183 

The  several  types  of  lessons  for  religious  instruction 
— ^The  informational  lesson — The  use  of  the  inductive 
lesson — The  deductive  lesson  in  religion — ^The  appUca- 
tion  of  drill  to  religious  teaching — The  lesson  in  appre- 
ciation— Conducting  the  review  lesson — How  to  make 
the  lesson  assignment — Questions  and  problems. 


18  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XII.  Methods  Used  in  the  Recitation 201 

Methods  of  procedure  for  the  lesson  hour — ^The  use 
of  the  topical  method — Place  and  dangers  of  the  lecture 
method — Securing  participation  from  the  class — The 
question  method — ^Principles  of  good  questioning — The 
treatment  of  answers — ^The  story  method — Guiding 
principles  in  story  teaching — ^The  teaching  method  of 
Jesus — ^Jesus  the  embodiment  of  all  scientific  pedagogy 
— Questions  and  problems. 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

The  teacher  of  religion  needs  to  be  very  sure  of 
himself  at  one  point.  He  ought  to  be  able  to  answer 
afl5rmatively  the  question,  ^'Have  I  the  prophetic  im- 
pulse in  my  teaching?"  Sooner  or  later,  practical 
difficulties  will  "come  not  singly  but  by  battalions," 
and  the  spirit  needs  to  be  fortified  against  discourage- 
ment. When  driven  back  to  the  second  or  third  line 
defense  it  is  important  that  such  a  Hne  really  exists; 
the  consciousness  of  being  the  spokesman  for  God 
makes  the  teacher  invulnerable  and  unconquerable. 

But  in  order  that  this  divine  impulse  may  attain 
its  greatest  strength  and  find  the  most  direct,  artic- 
ulate, and  effective  expression,  the  teacher  must  know 
how  as  well  as  what  to  teach.  The  most  precious  spiritual 
energy  may  be  lost  because  improperly  directed  or  con- 
trolled. Unhesitating  insight  into  the  solution  of  prac- 
tical problems  helps  to  open  up  a  channel  through  which 
the  prophetic  impulse  can  find  fullest  expression. 

There  is  no  substitute  for  mastery  of  the  technique 
of  the  teaching  process.  Prayerful  consecration  cannot 
take  its  place.  This  ready  command  of  the  methods 
of  teaching,  on  the  other  hand,  is  in  no  sense  an  equiv- 
alent of  the  consciousness  of  having  been  "called"  or 
"chosen"  to  teach  religion.  The  two  must  go  hand 
in  hand.  No  one  who  feels  himself  divinely  appointed 
for  this  sacred  task  dares  ignore  the  responsibility  of 
becoming  a  "workman  not  to  be  ashamed,  rightly 
dividing  the  word  of  truth." 

This  volume  by  Dr.  Betts  offers  the  earnest  teacher 
of  religion  an  exceptional  opportunity  to  make  more 

9 


lo  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

efiFective  his  ideal  of  instruction.  The  treatment  applies 
the  best  of  modern  educational  science  to  the  problems 
of  the  church  school,  without,  however,  for  a  moment, 
forgetting  that  a  vital  religious  experience  is  the  final 
goal  of  all  our  teaching. 

Besides  setting  forth  the  underlying  principles  of 
reKgious  teaching  in  a  clear  and  definite  way,  the  author 
has  included  in  every  chapter  a  rich  fund  of  illustration 
and  concrete  application  which  cannot  fail  to  prove 
immediately  helpful  in  every  church  classroom.  It  is 
also  believed  that  students  of  religious  education  will 
find  this  treatment  of  method  by  Professor  Betts  the 
most  fundamental  and  sane  that  has  yet  appeared  in 
the  field. 

Norman  E.  Richardson. 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 

Children  can  be  brought  to  a  religious  character  and 
experience  through  right  nurture  and  training  in  religion. 
This  is  the  fundamental  assumption  on  which  the 
present  volume  rests,  and  it  makes  the  religious  edu- 
cation of  children  the  most  strategic  opportunity  and 
greatest  responsibility  of  the  church,  standing  out  above 
all  other  obligations  whatever. 

Further,  the  successful  teaching  of  religion  is  based 
on  the  same  laws  that  apply  to  other  forms  of  teach- 
ing; hence  teachers  in  church  schools  need  and  have  a 
right  to  all  the  help  that  a  scientific  pedagogy  per- 
meated by  an  evangelistic  spirit  can  give  them.  They 
also  have  the  obligation  to  avail  themselves  of  this 
help  for  the  meeting  of  their  great  task. 

This  book  undertakes  to  deal  in  a  concrete  and  prac- 
tical way  with  the  underlying  principles  of  religious 
instruction.  The  plan  of  the  text  is  simple.  First 
comes  the  part  the  teacher  must  play  in  training  the 
child  in  religion.  Then  the  spiritual  changes  and  growth 
to  be  effected  in  the  child  are  set  forth  as  the  chief  ob- 
jective of  instruction.  Next  is  a  statement  of  the  great 
aims,  or  goals,  to  be  striven  for  in  the  child's  expanding 
religious  experience.  These  goals  are:  (i)  fruitful 
religious  knowledge;  (2)  right  religious  attitudes — in- 
terestSj  ideals,  feelings,  loyalties;  (3)  the  application  of 
this  knowledge  and  these  altitudes  to  daily  life  and  cotiduct. 

Following  the  discussion  of  aims  is  the  question  of 
just  what  subject  matter  to  choose  in  order  to  accom- 
plish these  ends,  and  how  best  to  organize  the  chosen 
material  for  instruction.    And  finally,  how  most  effectively 

11^ 


12  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

to  present  the  subject  matter  selected  to  make  it  serve 
its  purpose  in  stimulating  and  guiding  the  spiritual 
growth  and  development  of  children. 

The  volume  is  intended  as  a  textbook  for  teacher- 
training  classes,  students  of  religious  education,  and 
for  private  study  by  church-school  teachers.  It  is  also 
hoped  that  ministers  may  find  some  help  in  its  pages 
toward  meeting  their  educational  problems. 

Northwestern  University, 
Evanston,  Illinois. 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  TEACHER  HIMSELF 

It  is  easy,  enough  to  secure  buildings  and  classrooms 
for  our  schools.  The  expenditure  of  so  many  dollars 
will  bring  us  the  equipment  we  require.  Books  and 
materials  may  be  had  almost  for  the  asking.  The  great 
problem  is  to  secure  teachers — real  teachers,  teachers 
of  power  and  devotion  who  are  able  to  leave  their 
impress  on  young  Hves.  Without  such  teachers  all 
the  rest  is  but  as  sounding  brass  or  a  tinkling  cymbal. 
And  to  be  a  real  teacher  is  a  very  high  achievement. 

Bishop  Vincent  was  giving  a  lecture  on  "That  Boy." 
He  himself  was  "that  boy,"  and  in  the  course  of  de- 
scribing his  school  days  he  fell  into  meditation  as  fol- 
lows: "That  old  school  master  of  mine! — He  is  dead 
now — and  I  have  forgiven  him! — ^And  I  am  afraid  that 
was  the  chronology  of  the  matter;  for  I  never  was 
able  to  forgive  him  while  he  lived."  I,  as  one  of  the 
listeners,  smiled  at  the  bitter  wit  of  the  speaker,  but 
was  oppressed. 

This  somber  view  of  the  impression  sometimes  left 
by  teachers  on  their  pupils  received  an  antidote  the 
following  day,  however,  when  a  venerable  old  man 
approached  my  desk  bearing  in  his  hands  an  ancient 
and  dog-eared  copy  of  a  text  in  grammar.  He  opened 
the  book  and  proudly  showed  me  written  across  the 
fly  leaf  "Grover  Cleveland,  President."  Then  he  told 
me  this  story: 

"I  have  been  a  teacher.  In  one  of  my  first  schools 
I  had  Grover  Cleveland  as  a  pupil.    He  came  without 

13 


14  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

a  textbook  in  grammar,  and  I  loaned  him  mine.  Years 
passed,  and  Grover  Cleveland  was  President  of  the 
United  States.  One  day  I  was  one  of  many  hundreds 
passing  in  line  at  a  public  reception  to  grasp  the  Pres- 
ident's hand.  I  carried  this  book  with  me,  and  when 
it  came  my  turn  to  meet  the  President,  I  presented  the 
volume  and  said,  'Mr.  President,  do  you  recognize  this 
book,  and  do  you  remember  me?'  In  an  instant  the 
light  of  recognition  had  flashed  in  Mr.  Cleveland's 
eyes.  Calling  me  by  name,  he  grasped  my  hand  and 
held  it  while  the  crowd  waited  and  while  he  recalled 
old  times  and  thanked  me  for  what  I  had  meant  to 
him  when  I  was  his  teacher.  Then  he  took  the  old 
book  and  autographed  it  for  me." 

Three  types  of  teachers. — Two  types  of  teachers  are 
remembered:  one  to  be  forgiven  after  years  have  soft- 
ened the  antagonisms  and  resentments;  the  other  to  be 
thought  of  with  honor  and  gratitude  as  long  as  memory 
lasts.  Between  these  two  is  a  third  and  a  larger  group: 
those  who  are  forgotten,  because  they  failed  to  stamp  a 
lasting  impression  on  their  pupils.  This  group  repre- 
sents the  mediocrity  of  the  profession,  not  bad  enough 
to  be  actively  forgiven,  not  good  enough  to  claim  a  place 
in  gratitude  and  remembrance. 

To  which  type  would  we  belong?  To  which  type 
can  we  belong?  Can  we  choose?  What  are  the  fac- 
tors that  go  to  determine  the  place  we  shall  occupy 
in  the  scale  of  teachers? 

THE  PERSONAL  FACTOR 

When  we  revert  to  our  own  pupil  days  we  find  that 
the  impressions  which  cUng  to  our  memories  are  not 
chiefly  impressions  of  facts  taught  and  of  lessons  learned, 
but  of  the  personaiity  of  the  teacher.    We  may  have 


THE  TEACHER  HIMSELF  15 

forgotten  many  of  the  truths  presented  and  most  of 
the  conclusions  drawn,  but  the  warmth  and  glow  of 
the  human  touch  still  remains. 

To  be  a  teacher  of  religion  requires  a  particularly- 
exalted  personality.  The  teacher  and  the  truth  taught 
should  always  leave  the  impression  of  being  of  the 
same  pattern.  ^Tor  their  sakes  I  sanctify  myself/^ 
said  the  Great  Teacher;  shall  the  teachers  of  his  Word 
dare  do  less! 

The  teacher  as  an  interpreter  of  truth. — This  is 
not  to  say  that  the  subject  matter  taught  is  unim- 
portant, nor  that  the  lessons  presented  are  immaterial. 
It  is  only  to  say  that  life  responds  first  of  all  to  life. 
Truth  never  comes  to  the  child  disembodied  and  de- 
tached, but  always  with  the  slant  and  quality  of  the 
teacher's  interpretation  of  it.  It  is  as  if  the  teacher's 
mind  and  spirit  were  the  stained  glass  through  which 
the  sunlight  must  fall;  all  that  passes  through  the 
medium  of  a  living  personality  takes  its  tone  and  quahty 
from  this  contact.  The  pupils  may  or  may  not  grasp 
the  lessons  of  their  books,  but  their  teachers  are  living 
epistles,  known  and  read  by  them  all. 

For  it  is  the  concrete  that  grips  and  molds.  Our 
greatest  interest  and  best  attention  center  in  persons. 
The  world  is  neither  formed  nor  reformed  by  abstract 
truths  nor  by  general  theories.  Whatever  ideals  we 
would  impress  upon  others  we  must  first  have  realized 
in  ourselves.  What  we  are  often  drowns  out  what  we 
say.  Words  and  maxims  may  be  misunderstood;  char- 
acter seldom  is.  Precepts  may  fail  to  impress;  person- 
ality never  does.  God  tried  through  the  ages  to  reveal 
his  purposes  to  man  by  means  of  the  law  and  the  proph- 
ets, but  man  refused  to  heed  or  understand.  It  was 
only  when  God  had  made  his  thought  and  plan  for 


i6  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

man  concrete  in  the  person  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  that 
man  began  to  understand. 

The  first  and  most  difficult  requirement  of  the  teacher, 
therefore,  is — himself,  his  personality.  He  must  com- 
bine in  himself  the  qualities  of  life  and  character  he 
seeks  to  develop  in  his  pupils.  He  must  look  to  his 
personality  as  the  source  of  his  influence  and  the  measure 
of  his  power.  He  must  be  the  living  embodiment  of 
what  he  would  lead  his  pupils  to  become.  He  must 
live  the  religion  he  would  teach  them.  He  must  pos- 
sess the  vital  religious  experience  he  would  have  them 
attain. 

The  building  of  personality. — PersonaHty  is  not 
born,  it  is  made.  A  strong,  inspiring  personality  is  not 
a  gift  of  the  gods,  nor  is  a  weak  and  ineffective  person- 
ality a  visitation  of  Providence.  Things  do  not  happen 
in  the  realm  of  the  spiritual  any  more  than  in  the  realm 
of  nature.  Everything  is  caused.  Personality  grows. 
It  takes  its  form  in  the  thick  of  the  day's  work  and  its 
play.  It  is  shaped  in  the  crush  and  stress  of  life's  prob- 
lems and  its  duties.  It  gains  its  quality  from  the  char- 
acter of  the  thoughts  and  acts  that  make  up  the  com- 
mon round  of  experience.  It  bears  the  marks  of  whatever 
spiritual  fellowship  and  communion  we  keep  with  the 
Divine. 

Professor  Dewey  tells  us  that  character  is  largely 
dependent  on  the  mode  of  assembling  its  parts.  A 
teacher  may  have  a  splendid  native  inheritance,  a  fine 
education,  and  may  move  in  the  best  social  circles,  and 
yet  not  come  to  his  best  in  personality.  It  requires  some 
high  and  exalted  task  in  order  to  assemble  the  powers 
and  organize  them  to  their  full  efficiency.  The  urge  of 
a  great  work  is  needed  to  make  potential  ability  actual. 
Paul  did  not  become  the  giant  of  his  latter  years  until 


THE  TEACHER  HIMSELF  17 

he  took  upon  himself  the  great  task  of  carrying  the 
gospel  to  the  Gentiles. 

Our  own  responsibility. — It  follows  then  that  the 
building  of  our  personalities  is  largely  in  our  own  hands. 
True,  the  influence  of  heredity  is  not  to  be  overlooked. 
It  is  easier  for  some  to  develop  attractive,  compelling 
qualities  than  for  others.  The  raw  material  of  our 
nature  comes  with  us;  is  what  heredity  decrees.  But 
the  finished  product  bears  the  stamp  of  our  training 
and  development.  Fate  or  destiny  never  takes  the 
reins  from  our  hands.  We  are  free  to  shape  ourselves 
largely  as  we  will. 

Our  inner  life  will  daily  grow  by  what  it  feeds  upon. 
This  is  the  great  secret  of  personahty-building.  What 
to-day  we  build  into  thought  and  action  to-morrow 
becomes  character  and  personality.  Let  us  cultivate 
our  interests,  think  high  thoughts,  and  give  ourselves 
to  worthy  deeds,  and  these  have  soon  become  a  life 
habit.  Let  our  hearts  go  out  in  helpfulness  to  those 
about  us,  and  sympathy  for  human  kind  becomes  a 
compelling  motive  in  our  lives  before  we  are  aware. 
Let  us  consciously  listen  to  the  still  small  voice  speak- 
ing to  the  soul,  and  we  will  find  our  souls  expanding  to 
meet  the  Infinite. 

The  secret — He  who  would  develop  his  personality 
into  the  full  measure  of  its  strength  and  power  must, 
then,  set  his  goal  at  living  constantly  in  the  presence  of 
the  BEST.  This  will  include  the  best  in  thought  and 
memory  and  anticipation.  It  will  permit  none  but 
cheerful  moods,  nor  allow  us  to  dwell  with  bitterness 
upon  petty  wrongs  and  grievances.  It  will  control  the 
tongue,  and  check  the  unkind  word  or  needless  crit- 
icism. It  will  cause  us  to  seek  for  the  strong  and  beau- 
tiful qualities  in  our  friends  and  associates,  and  not 


i8  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

allow  us  to  point  out  their  faults  nor  magnify  their 
failings.  It  will  cure  us  of  small  jealousies  and  suppress 
all  spirit  of  revenge.  It  will  save  us  from  idle  worry 
and  fruitless  rebellion  against  such  ills  as  cannot  be 
cured.  In  short,  it  will  free  our  lives  from  the  crippling 
influence  of  negative  moods  and  critical  attitudes.  It 
will  teach  us  to  be  ruled  by  our  admirations  rather  than 
by  our  aversions. 

Above  all,  he  who  would  build  a  personality  fitted 
to  serve  as  the  teacher  of  the  child  in  his  religion  must 
constantly  Hve  in  the  presence  of  the  best  he  can  attain 
in  God.  There  is  no  substitute  for  this.  No  fullness 
of  intellectual  power  and  grasp,  no  richness  of  knowledge 
gleaned,  and  no  degree  of  skill  in  instruction  can  take 
the  place  of  a  vibrant,  immediate,  Spirit-filled  con- 
sciousness of  God  in  the  heart.  For  religion  is  life,  and 
the  best  definition  of  religion  we  can  present  to  the 
child  is  the  example  and  warmth  of  a  Hfe  inspired  and 
vivified  by  contact  with  the  Source  of  all  spiritual 
being.  The  authority  of  the  teacher  should  rest  on 
his  own  religious  experience,  rather  than  on  the  spir- 
itual experience  of  others. 

A  character  chart. — There  is  no  possibility,  of  course, 
of  making  a  list  of  all  the  quahties  that  enter  into  our 
personaKties.  Nor  would  it  be  possible  to  trace  all 
the  multiform  ways  in  which  these  qualities  may  com- 
bine in  our  characters.  It  is  worth  wbile,  however,  to 
consider  a  few  of  the  outstanding  traits  which  take 
first  place  in  determining  our  strength  or  weakness, 
and  especially  such  as  will  respond  most  readily  to 
conscious  training  and  cultivation.  Such  a  list  follows. 
Each  quality  may  serve  as  a  goal  both  for  our  own 
development  and  lor  the  training  of  our  pupils. 


THE  TEACHER  HIMSELF 


19 


Positive  Qualities 

1  Open-minded,     inquiring, 

broad 

2  Accurate,   thorough,   dis- 

cerning 

3  Judicious,  balanced,  fair 

4  Original,  independent,  re- 

sourceful 

5  Decisive,  possessing  con- 

victions 

6  Cheerful,  joyous,  optimis- 

tic 

7  Amiable,  friendly,  agree- 

able 

8  Democratic,  broadly  sym- 

pathetic 

9  Tolerant,  sense  of  humor, 

generous 

10  Kind,  courteous,  tactful 

11  Tractable,  cooperative, 

teachable 

12  Loyal,  honorable,  depend- 

able 

13  Executive,  forceful,  vigor- 

ous 

14  High  ideals,  worthy,  ex- 

alted 

15  Modest,  self-effacing 

16  Courageous,  daring,  firm 

17  Honest,    truthful,    frank, 

sincere 

18  Patient,  calm,  equable 


Negative  Qualities 

Narrow,  dogmatic,  not 
htmgry  for  truth 

Indefinite,  superficial, 
lazy 

Prejudiced,  led  by  likes 
and  dislikes    : 

Dependent,  imitative, 
subservient 

Uncertain,  wavering,  un- 
decided 

Gloomy,  morose,  pessi- 
mistic, bitter 

Repellent,  unsociable, 
disagreeable 

Snobbish,  self-centered, 
exclusive 

Opinionated,  dogmatic, 
intolerant 

Cruel,  rude,  untactful 

Stubborn,  not  able  to 
work  with  others 

Disloyal,  uncertain  de- 
pendability 

Uncertain,  weak,  not  ca- 
pable 

Low  standards,  base,  con- 
temptible 

Egotistical,  vain,  auto- 
cratic 

Overcautious,  weak,  vac- 
illating 

Low  standards  of  honor 
and  truth 

Irritable,  excitable- 
>~u  moody  . 


20 


HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 


Positive  Qualities  Negative  Qualities 

19  Generous,     open-hearted,      Stingy,  selfish,  resentful 

forgiving 

20  Responsive,  congenial  Cold,  reptilsive,  uninvit- 

ing 

21  Punctual,  on  schedule,  ca-      Tardy,    usually   behind- 

pable  hand,  incapable 

22  Methodical,  consistent.      Haphazard, desultory, in- 

logical  consistent 

23  Altruistic,  given  to  service      Indifferent,  not  socially- 

minded 

24  Refined,  alive  to  beauty, 

artistic 

25  Self -controlled,  decision, 

purpose 

26  Good    physical    carriage, 

dignity 

27  Taste   in   attire,    cleanli- 
ness, pride 


Coarse,  lacking  aesthetic 

quality 
Suggestible,  easily  led, 

uncertain 
Lack  of  poise,  ill  posture, 

no  grace 
Careless  in  dress,  frumpy, 

no  pride 


28  Face  smiling,  voice  pleas-      Somber  expression,  voice 

unpleasant 
Quickly  tired,  weak,  slug- 
gish     • 


mg 
29  Physical  endurance,  vigor, 
strength 


30  Spiritual  responsiveness      Spiritually  weak,  incon- 


strong 


stant,  uncertam 


31  Prayer  life  warm,  satisfy-  Prayer  cold,  formal,  little 
ing  comfort 

Conflict,  strain,  uncer- 
tainty 

Spiritual  life  static  or 
losing  force 

God  distant,  unreal,  hard 
of  approach 

Influence  little  or  nega- 
tive 

Little  concern  for  religion 
and  Bible     )' 


32  Religious  certainty,  peace, 

quiet 

33  Religious    experience    ex- 

panding 

34  God  a  near,  inspiring  re- 

ality 

35  Power  to  win  others  to 

religion 

36  Interest  in  Bible  and  re- 

ligion 


THE  TEACHER  HIMSELF  si 

Positive  Qualities  Negative  Qualities 

37  Religion  makes  life  fuller      Religion  felt  as  a  linaita- 

and  richer  tion 

38  Deeply  believe  great  fun-      Lacking    in   foundations 

damentals  for  faith 

39  Increasing  triumph   over      Too  frequent  falling  ba- 

sin fore  temptation 

40  Religious  future  hopeful        Religious  growth  imcer- 

tain        /  y^ 

It  is  highly  instructive  for  one  to  grade  himself  on 
this  list  of  qualities;  or  he  may  have  his  friends  and 
associates  grade  him,  thus  getting  an  estimate  of  the 
impression  he  is  making  on  others.  Teachers  will  find 
it  well  worth  while  to  attempt  to  grade  each  of  their 
pupils;  for  this  will  give  a  clearer  insight  into  their 
strengths  and  weaknesses,  and  so  indicate  where  to 
direct  our  teaching.  Mark  each  separate  set  of  qual- 
ities on  the  scale  of  10  for  the  highest  possible  attain- 
ment. If  the  strength  of  the  positive  qualities  of  a  cer- 
tain set  (as  in  No.  10)  can  be  marked  but  6,  then  the 
negative  qualities  of  this  set  must  carry  a  mark  of  4. 

THE  teacher's  BACKGROUND   OF  PREPARATION 

One  can  never  teach  all  he  knows.  Dr.  John  Dewey 
tells  us  that  the  subject  matter  of  our  instruction  should 
be  so  well  mastered  that  it  has  become  second  nature 
to  us;  then  when  we  come  to  the  recitation  we  can  give 
our  best  powers  of  thought  and  insight  to  the  human 
element — seeking  to  understand  the  boys  and  girls  as  we 
teach  them. 

Our  knowledge  and  mastery  must  always  be  much 
broader  than  the  material  we  actually  present.  It 
must  be  deeper  and  our  grasp  more  complete  than 
can  be  reached  by  our  pupils.    For  only  this  will  give 


22  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

us  the  mental  perspective  demanded  of  the  teacher. 
Only  this  will  enable  our  thought  to  move  with  cer- 
tainty and  assurance  in  the  field  of  our  instruction. 
And  only  this  will  win  the  confidence  and  respect  of 
our  pupils  who,  though  their  minds  are  yet  unformed, 
have  nevertheless  a  quick  sense  for  mastery  or  weakness 
as  revealed  in  their  teacher. 

A  danger  confronted  by  teachers  in  church 
schools. — Teachers  in  our  church  schools  are  at  a 
disadvantage  at  this  point.  They  constitute  a  larger 
body  than  those  who  teach  in  the  day  schools,  j>^et  the 
vast  army  who  teach  our  children  religion  receive  no 
salaries.  They  are  engaged  in  other  occupations,  and 
freely  give  their  services  as  teachers  of  religion  with  no 
thought  of  compensation  or  reward.  The  time  and 
enthusiasm  they  give  to  the  Sunday  school  is  a  free-will 
offering  to  a  cause  in  which  they  beHeve.  All  this  is 
inspiring  and  admirable,  but  it  also  contains  an  element 
of  danger. 

For  it  is  impossible  to  set  up  scholastic  and  professional 
standards  for  our  teachers  of  religion  as  we  do  for  the 
teachers  in  our  day  schools.  The  day-school  teacher, 
employed  by  the  state  and  receiving  public  funds, 
must  go  through  a  certain  period  of  training  for  his 
position.  He  must  pass  examinations  in  the  subject 
matter  he  is  to  teach,  and  in  his  professional  fitness  for 
the  work  of  the  teacher.  He  must  have  a  certificate 
granted  by  responsible  authorities  before  he  can  enter 
the  schoolroom.  He  must  show  professional  growth 
while  in  service  if  he  is  to  receive  promotion  or  con- 
tinue in  the  vocation. 

Greater  personal  responsibility  on  church  school 
teacher. — Naturally,  all  this  is  impossible  with  volun- 
teer teachers  who  receive  no  pay  for  their  services  and 


THE  TEACHER  HIMSELF  23 

are  not  employed  under  legal  authority  No  com- 
pulsion can  be  brought  to  bear;  all  must  rest  on  the 
sense  of  duty  and  of  opportunity  of  the  individual 
teacher.  Yet  the  Sunday  school  teacher  needs  even 
a  more  thorough  background  of  preparation  than  the 
day-school  teacher,  for  the  work  of  instruction  in  the 
Sunday  school  is  almost  infinitely  harder  than  in  the 
day  school.  Religion  and  morals  are  more  difficult 
to  teach  than  arithmetic  and  geography.  The  church 
building  usually  lacks  adequate  classroom  facilities. 
The  lesson  material  is  not  as  well  graded  and  adapted 
Vo  the  children  as  the  day-school  texts.  The  lessons 
come  but  once  a  week,  and  the  time  for  instruction 
is  insufficient.  The  children  do  not  prepare  their  les- 
sons, and  so  come  to  the  Sunday  school  lacking  the 
mental  readiness  essential  to  receiving  instruction. 

This  all  means  that  the  Sunday  school  teacher  must 
rise  to  a  sense  of  his  responsibilities.  He  must  realize 
that  he  holds  a  position  of  influence  second  to  none  in 
the  spiritual  development  of  his  pupils.  He  must 
remember  that  he  is  dealing  with  a  seed-time  whose 
harvest  involves  the  fruits  of  character  and  destiny. 
With  these  facts  in  mind  he  must  ask  himself  whether 
he  is  justified  in  standing  before  his  class  as  teacher 
without  having  given  the  time  and  effort  necessary  for 
complete  preparation. 

The  teacher  and  his  Bible. — The  teacher  should 
know  his  Bible.  This  means  far  more  than  to  know 
its  text  and  characters.  The  Bible  is  history,  it  is 
literature,  it  is  a  treatise  on  morals,  it  is  philosophy, 
it  is  a  repository  of  spiritual  wisdom,  it  is  a  handbook 
of  inspiration  and  guidance  to  the  highest  life  man  has 
in  any  age  conceived. 

To  master  the  Bible  one  must  have  a  background 


24  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

of  knowledge  of  the  Kfe  and  history  of  its  times.  He 
must  enter  into  the  spirit  and  genius  of  the  Hebrew 
nation,  know  their  aspirations,  their  political  and 
economic  problems,  and  understand  their  tragedies 
and  sufferings.  He  must  know  the  historical  and  social 
setting  of  the  Jewish  people,  the  nations  and  civiliza- 
tions that  surrounded  them,  and  the  customs,  mode 
of  life,  and  trend  of  thought  of  contemporaneous  peoples. 

Not  all  of  these  things  can  be  learned  from  the  Bible 
itself.  One  must  make  use  of  the  various  helps  and 
commentaries  now  available  to  Bible  students.  The 
religions  of  ancient  Eg)rpt,  Assyria,  Babylonia,  Greece, 
and  Rome  should  be  studied.  Ancient  literatures  should 
be  placed  under  tribute,  and  every  means  employed  to 
gain  a  working  knowledge  of  the  social  medium  out 
of  which  the  Christian  religion  developed. 

The  teacher^s  knowledge  of  children.— Time  was 
when  we  thought  of  the  child  as  a  miniature  man,  dif- 
fering from  adults  on  the  physical  side  only  in  size  and 
strength,  and  on  the  mental  side  only  in  power  and 
grasp  of  thought.  Now  we  know  better.  We  know 
that  the  child  differs  from  the  adult  not  only  in  the 
quantity  but  also  in  the  quality  of  his  being. 

It  is  the  business  of  the  teacher  to  understand  how 
the  child  thinks.  What  is  the  child^s  concept  of  God? 
What  is  the  character  of  the  child's  prayer?  How 
does  the  child  feel  when  he  takes  part  in  the  acts  of 
worship?  We  talk  to  the  child  about  serving  God; 
what  is  the  child's  understanding  of  service  to  God? 
We  seek  to  train  the  child  to  loyalty  to  the  church; 
what  does  the  church  stand  for  to  the  child?  We  teach 
the  child  about  sin  and  forgiveness;  just  what  is  the 
child's  comprehension  of  sin,  and  what  does  he  under- 
stand by  forgiveness?    We  tell  the  child  that  he  must 


THE  TEACHER  HIMSELF  25 

love  God  and  the  Christ;  can  a  child  control  his  affec- 
tions as  he  will,  or  do  they  follow  the  trend  of  his  thoughts 
and  experiences?  These  are  not  idle  questions.  They 
are  questions  that  must  be  answered  by  every  teacher 
who  would  be  more  than  the  blind  leader  of  the  blind. 

Coming  to  know  the  child. — How  shall  the  teacher 
come  to  know  the  child?  Professor  George  Herbert 
Palmer  sets  forth  a  great  truth  when  he  says  that  the 
first  quality  of  a  great  teacher  is  the  quality  of  vicari- 
ousness.  By  this  he  means  the  ability  on  the  part  of 
the  teacher  to  step  over  in  his  imagination  and  take 
the  place  of  the  child.  To  look  at  the  task  with  the 
child's  mind  and  understanding,  to  feel  the  appeal  of 
a  lesson  or  story  through  the  child's  emotions,  to  con- 
front a  temptation  with  the  child's  power  of  will  and 
self-control — this  ability  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom 
for  those  who  would  understand  childhood.  The  teacher 
must  first  of  all,  therefore,  be  a  sympathetic  investi- 
gator in  the  laboratory  of  child  life.  Not  only  in  the 
Sunday  school,  but  daily,  he  must  observe,  study,  seek 
to  interpret  children. 

Nor  should  the  teacher  of  religion  neglect  the  books 
on  the  child  and  his  religion.  Many  investigators  are 
giving  their  time  and  abilities  to  studying  child  nature 
and  child  religion.  A  mastery  of  their  findings  will 
save  us  many  mistakes  in  the  leadership  and  training 
of  children.  A  knowledge  of  their  methods  of  study 
will  show  us  how  ourselves  more  intelligently  to  study 
childhood.  Comprehension  of  the  principles  they  repre- 
sent, coupled  with  the  results  of  our  own  direct  inter- 
pretation of  children,  will  convince  us  that,  while  each 
child  differs  from  every  other,  certain  fundamental 
laws  apply  to  all  childhood.  It  is  the  teacher's  task  and 
privilege  to  master  these  laws. 


26  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

Knowledge  of  technique. — Teaching  is  an  artj  which 
must  be  learned  the  same  as  any  other  art.  True, 
there  are  those  who  claim  that  anyone  who  knows  a 
thing  can  teach  it;  but  often  the  teacher  who  makes 
such  a  claim  is  himself  the  best  refutation  of  its  vaUdity 
when  he  comes  before  his  class.  Probably  most  of  us 
have  known  eminent  specialists  in  their  field  of  learn- 
ing who  were  but  indifferent  teachers.  It  is  not  that 
they  knew  too  much  about  their  subjects,  but  that  they 
had  not  mastered  the  art  of  its  presentation  to  others. 

The  class  hour  is  the  teacher's  great  opportunity. 
His  final  measure  as  a  teacher  is  taken  as  he  stands 
before  his  class  in  the  recitation.  Here  he  succeeds  or 
fails.  In  fact,  here  the  whole  system  of  religious  educa- 
tion succeeds  or  fails.  For  it  is  in  this  hour,  where  the 
teacher  meets  his  pupils  face  to  face  and  mind  to  mind, 
that  all  else  culminates.  It  is  for  this  hour  that  the 
Sunday  school  is  organized,  the  classrooms  provided, 
and  the  lesson  material  prepared.  It  is  in  this  hour 
that  the  teacher  succeeds  in  kindling  the  interest, 
stirring  the  thought  and  feeling,  and  grounding  the 
loyalty  of  his  class.  Or,  failing  in  this,  it  is  in  the  reci- 
tation hour  that  the  teacher  leaves  the  spiritual  Ufe 
of  the  child  untouched  by  his  contact  with  the  Sunday 
school  and  so  defeats  its  whole  intent  and  purpose. 

The  teacher  of  religion  should  therefore  ask  himself: 
^  ^What  is  my  craftsmanship  in  instruction?  Do  I  know 
how  to  present  this  material  so  that  it  will  take  hold 
upon  my  class?  Do  I  know  the  technique  of  the  recita- 
tion hour,  and  the  principles  of  good  teaching?  Have  I 
read  what  the  scholars  have  written  and  what  the 
experience  of  others  has  to  teach  me.  Have  I  definitely 
planned  and  sought  for  skill?  Is  my  work  in  the  class- 
room the  best  that  I  can  make  it?" 


THE  TEACHER  HIMSELF  27 

The  teacher  must  continuously  be  a  student. — 

The  successful  teacher  of  religion  must,  therefore,  be 
a  student.  He  must  continually  grow  in  knowledge 
and  in  teaching  power.  There  is  no  possibility  of  be- 
coming ^'prepared"  through  the  reading  of  certain 
books  and  the  pursuit  of  certain  courses  of  study  and 
then  having  this  preparation  serve  without  further 
growth.  The  famous  Dr.  Arnold,  an  insatiable  student 
until  the  day  of  his  death,  when  asked  why  he  found 
it  necessary  to  prepare  for  each  day's  lessons,  said  he 
preferred  that  his  pupils  *  ^should  drink  from  a  running 
stream  rather  than  from  a  stagnant  pool."  This,  then, 
should  be  the  teacher's  standard:  A  broad  backgrounds, 
of  general  preparation,  constant  reading  and  study  in  the 
field  of  religion  and  religious  teaching,  special  preparation 
for  each  lesson  taught. 

The  churches  of  each  community  should  unite  in 
providing  a  school  for  teacher  training.  Where  the 
community  training  school  cannot  be  organized,  indi- 
vidual churches  should  organize  training  classes  for 
their  teachers.  Such  schools  and  classes  have  been 
provided  in  hundreds  of  places,  and  the  movement  is 
rapidly  spreading.  Wherever  such  opportunities  are 
available  the  best  church  school  teachers  are  flocking 
to  the  classes  and  giving  the  time  and  effort  necessary 
to  prepare  for  better  service. 

Even  where  no  organized  training  classes  are  at  present 
available,  the  earnest  teacher  can  gain  much  help 
from  following  an  organized  course  of  reading  in  such 
lines  as  those  just  given.  Excellent  texts  are  available 
in  most  of  these  fields. 

The  reward. — One  deep  and  abiding  satisfaction  may 
come  to  the  teacher  who  feels  the  burden  of  reaching 
the  standards  set  forth  in  this  lesson.    //  is  all  worth 


28  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

while.  Some  make  the  mistake  of  charging  against 
their  task  all  the  time,  effort  and  devotion  that  go 
into  preparing  themselves  as  teachers  of  reUgion.  But 
this  is  a  false  philosophy.  For  a  great  work  greatly  per- 
formed leaves  the  stamp  of  its  greatness  on  the  worker. 
All  that  we  do  toward  making  out  of  ourselves  better 
teachers  of  childhood  adds  to  our  own  spiritual  equip- 
ment. All  the  study,  prayer,  and  consecration  we 
give  to  our  work  for  the  children  returns  a  hundred- 
fold to  us  in  a  richer  experience  and  a  larger  capacity 
for  service. 
„k;  ,^> 

1.  Recall  several  teachers  whom  you  remember  best 
from  your  own  pupil  days,  and  see  whether  you  can  esti- 
mate the  qualities  in  their  character  or  teaching  which 
are  responsible  for  the  lasting  impression. 

2.  Are  you  able  to  determine  from  the  character  chart 
which  are  your  strongest  qualities?  Which  are  your 
weakest  qualities?  Just  what  methods  are  you  planning 
to  use  to  improve  yovir  personality? 

3.  In  thinking  of  your  class,  are  you  able  to  judge  in 
connection  with  different  ones  on  what  qualities  of  char- 
acter they  most  need  help?  Are  you  definitely  seeking 
to  help  on  these  points  in  your  teaching? 

4.  Do  you  think  that  church-school  teachers  could 
pass  as  good  an  examination  on  what  they  undertake  to 
teach  as  day-school  teachers?  Are  the  standards  too 
high  for  day-school  teachers?  Are  they  high  enough 
for  church-school  teachers? 

5.  Have  you  seen  Sunday-school  teachers  at  work  who 
evidently  did  not  know  their  Bibles  ?  Have  you  seen  others 
who  seemed  to  know  their  Bibles  but  who  were  ignorant  of 
childhood?  Have  you  seen  others  whose  technique  of 
teaching  might  have  been  improved  by  a  little  careful 
study  and  preparation?  Are  you  willing  to  apply  these 
three  tests  to  yourself? 


THE  TEACHER  HIMSELF  ^29 

FOR  FURTHER  READING 

Palmer,  The  Ideal  Teacher. 
Hyde,  The  Teacher's  Philosophy. 
Slattery,  Living  Teachers. 
Home,  The  Teacher  as  Artist. 


CHAPTER  n 
THE  GREAT  OBJECTIVE 

All  teaching  has  two  objectives — the  subject  taught 
and  the  person  taught.  When  we  teach  John  granmiar 
(or  the  Bible)  we  teach  grammar  (or  the  Bible),  of 
course;  but  we  also  teach  John.  And  the  greater  of 
these  two  objectives  is  John.  It  is  easy  enough  to 
attain  the  lesser  of  the  objectives.  Anyone  of  fair 
intelligence  can  master  a  given  amount  of  subject 
matter  and  present  it  to  a  class;  but  it  is  a  far  more 
difficult  thing  to  understand  the  child — to  master  the 
inner  secrets  of  the  mind,  the  heart,  and  the  springs 
of  action  of  the  learner. 

Who  can  measure  the  potentialities  that  lie  hidden 
in  the  soul  of  a  child!  Just  as  the  acorn  contains  the 
whole  of  the  great  oak  tree  enfolded  in  its  heart,  so 
the  child-life  has  hidden  in  it  all  the  powers  of  heart 
and  mind  which  later  reach  full  fruition.  Nothing  is 
created  through  the  process  of  growth  and  develop- 
ment. Education  is  but  a  process  of  unfolding  and 
bringing  into  action  the  powers  and  capacities  with 
which  the  life  at  the  beginning  was  endowed  by  its 
Creator. 

THE  CHILD  AS  THE  GREAT  OBJECTIVE 

The  child  comes  into  the  world — indeed,  comes  into 
the  school — ^with  much  potential  and  very  little  actual 
capital.  Nature  has  through  heredity  endowed  him 
with  infinite  possibilities.    But  these  are  but  pixMnises; 

30 


THE  GREAT  OBJECTIVE  31 

they  are  still  in  embryonic  form.  The  powers  of  mind 
and  soul  at  first  lie  dormant,  waiting  for  the  awakening 
that  comes  through  the  touch  of  the  world  about  and 
for  the  enlightenment  that  comes  through  instruction. 

Given  just  the  right  touch  at  the  opportune  moment, 
and  these  potential  powers  spring  into  dynamic  abilities, 
a  blessing  to  their  possessor  and  to  the  world  they 
serve.  Left  without  the  right  training,  or  allowed  to 
turn  in  wrong  directions,  and  these  infinite  capacities 
for  good  may  become  instruments  for  evil,  a  curse  to 
the  one  who  owns  them  and  a  blight  to  those  against 
whom  they  are  directed. 

Children  the  bearers  of  spiritual  culture.— The 
greatest  business  of  any  generation  or  people  is,  there- 
fore, the  education  of  its  children.  Before  this  all  other 
enterprises  and  obligations  must  give  way,  no  matter 
what  their  importance.  It  is  at  this  point  that  civiliza- 
tion succeeds  or  fails.  Suppose  that  for  a  single  gen- 
eration our  children  should,  through  some  inconceivable 
stroke  of  fate,  refuse  to  open  their  minds  to  instruction 
— suppose  they  should  refuse  to  learn  our  science,  our 
religion,  our  literature,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  culture 
which  the  human  race  has  bought  at  so  high  a  price 
of  sacrifice  and  suffering.  Suppose  they  should  turn 
deaf  ears  to  the  appeal  of  art,  and  reject  the  claims 
of  morality,  and  refuse  the  lessons  of  Christianity  and 
the  Bible.  Where  then  would  all  our  boasted  progress 
be?  Where  would  our  religion  be?  Where  would 
modem  civilization  be?  All  would  revert  to  primitive 
barbarism,  through  the  failure  of  this  one  generation, 
and  the  race  would  be  obliged  to  start  anew  the  long 
climb  toward  the  mountain  top  of  spiritual  freedom. 

Each  generation  must  therefore  create  anew  in  its 
own  Ufe  and  experience  the  spiritual  culture  of  the  race. 


32  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

Each  child  that  comes  to  us  for  instruction,  weak,  ig- 
norant, and  helpless  though  he  be,  is  charged  with  his 
part  in  the  great  program  God  has  marked  out  for 
man  to  achieve.  Each  of  these  little  ones  is  the  bearer 
of  an  immortal  soul,  whose  destiny  it  is  to  take  its 
quality  and  form  from  the  Ufe  it  Uves  among  its  fellows. 
And  ours  is  the  dread  and  fascinating  responsibihty 
for  a  time  to  be  the  mentor  and  guide  of  this  celestial 
being.  Ours  it  is  to  deal  with  the  infinite  possibilities 
of  child-Hfe,  and  to  have  a  hand  in  forming  the  char- 
acter that  this  immortal  soul  will  take.  Ours  it  is  to 
have  the  thrilling  experience  of  experimenting  in  the 
making  of  a  destiny! 

Childhood's  capacity  for  growth. — Nor  must  we 
ever  think  that  because  the  child  is  young,  his  brain 
unripe,  and  his  experience  and  wisdom  lacking,  our 
responsibility  is  the  less.  For  the  child's  earliest  im- 
pressions are  the  most  lasting,  and  the  earliest  influ- 
ences that  act  upon  his  life  are  the  most  powerful  in 
determining  its  outcome.  Remember  that  the  babe, 
starting  at  birth  with  nothing,  has  in  a  few  years  learned 
speech,  become  acquainted  with  much  of  his  immediate 
world,  formed  many  habits  which  will  follow  him 
through  life,  and  established  the  beginnings  of  per- 
manent character  and  disposition.  Remember  the 
indelible  impression  of  the  bedside  prayers  of  your 
mother,  of  the  earliest  words  of  counsel  of  your  father, 
of  the  influence  of  a  loved  teacher,  and  then  know  that 
other  children  are  to-day  receiving  their  impressions 
from  us,  their  parents  and  teachers. 

Consider  for  a  moment  the  child  as  he  comes  to  us 
for  instruction.  We  no  longer  insist  with  the  older 
theologies  that  he  is  completely  under  the  curse  of 
'^original  sin,"  nor  do   we   believe   with   certain   sen- 


THE  GREAT  OBJECTIVE  33 

timentalists  that  he  comes  * 'trailing  clouds  of  glory." 
We  believe  that  he  has  infinite  capacities  for  good, 
and  equally  infinite  capacities  for  evil,  either  of  which 
may  be  developed.  We  know  that  at  the  beginning 
the  child  is  sinless,  pure  of  heart,  his  life  undefiled. 
To  know  this  is  enough  to  show  us  our  part.  This  is 
to  lead  the  child  aright  until  he  is  old  enough  to  follow 
the  right  path  of  his  own  accord,  to  ground  him  in 
the  motives  and  habits  that  tend  to  right  living,  and 
so  to  turn  his  mind,  heart,  and  will  to  God  that  his 
whole  being  seeks  accord  with  the  Infinite. 

Religious  conservation. — If  our  leading  of  the  child 
is  wise,  and  his  response  is  ready,  there  will  be  no  fall- 
ing away  from  a  normal  Christian  Hfe  and  a  growing 
consciousness  of  God.  This  does  not  mean  that  the  child 
will  never  do  wrong,  nor  commit  sin.  It  does  not  mean 
that  the  youth  will  not,  when  the  age  of  choice  has 
come,  make  a  personal  decision  for  Christ  and  conse- 
crate his  life  anew  to  Christ's  service.  It  means,  rather, 
that  the  whole  attitude  of  mind,  and  the  complete  trend 
of  Hfe  of  the  child  will  be  religious.  It  means  that  the 
original  purity  of  innocence  will  grow  into  a  conscious 
and  joyful  acceptance  of  the  Christ-standard.  It  means 
that  the  child  need  never  know  a  time  when  he  is  not 
within  the  Kingdom,  and  growing  to  fuller  stature 
therein.  It  means  that  we  should  set  our  aim  at  con- 
servation instead  of  reclamation  as  the  end  of  our  re- 
ligious training. 

Yet  what  a  proportion  of  the  energy  of  the  church 
is  to-day  required  for  the  reclaiming  of  those  who 
should  never  have  been  allowed  to  go  astray!  Evan- 
gelistic campaigns,  much  of  the  preaching,  ''personal 
work,"  Salvation  Army  programs,  and  many  other 
agencies  are  of  necessity  organized  for  the  reclaiming 


34  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

of  men  and  women  who  but  yesterday  were  children 
in  our  homes  and  church  schools,  and  plastic  to  our 
training.  What  a  tragic  waste  of  energy! — and  then 
those  who  never  return!  Should  we  not  be  able  more 
successfully  to  carry  out  the  Master's  injunction, 
''Feed  my  lambs'"? 

The  child-Christian. — All  of  these  considerations 
point  to  the  inevitable  conclusion  that  the  child  is  the 
great  objective  of  our  teaching.  Indeed,  the  child 
ought  to  be  the  objective  of  the  work  of  the  whole 
church.  The  saving  of  its  children  from  wandering 
outside  the  fold  is  the  supreme  duty  and  the  strategic 
opportunity  of  the  church,  standing  out  above  all 
other  claims  whatever.  We  are  in  some  danger  of 
forgetting  that  when  Jesus  wanted  to  show  his  disciples 
the  standard  of  an  ideal  Christian  he  '*took  a  child 
and  set  him  in  the  midst  of  them."  We  do  not  always 
realize  that  to  keep  a  child  a  Christian  is  much  more 
important  than  to  reclaim  him  after  he  has  been  allowed 
to  get  outside  the  fold. 

The  recent  report  of  a  series  of  special  religious 
meetings  states  that  there  were  a  certain  number  of 
conversions  ''exclusive  of  children,""  the  impHcation  be- 
ing that  the  really  important  results  were  in  the  de- 
cisions of  the  adults.  The  same  point  of  view  was 
revealed  when  a  church  official  remarked  after  the 
reception  of  a  large  group  of  new  members,  **It  was 
an  inspiring  sight,  except  that  there  were  so  few  adults!"" 
When  shall  we  learn  that  if  we  do  our  duty  by  the 
children  there  will  be  fewer  adults  left  outside  for  the 
church  to  receive? 

NO   SUBJECT  MATTER  AND  END  IN  ITSELF 

The  teacher  must  first  of  all  take  his  stand  with  the 


THE  GREAT  OBJECTIVE  35 

child.  He  must  not  allow  his  attention  and  enthusi- 
asms to  become  centered  on  the  matter  he  teaches. 
He  must  not  be  satisfied  when  he  has  succeeded  in 
getting  a  certain  fact  lodged  in  the  minds  of  his  pupils. 
He  must  first,  last,  and  all  the  time  look  upon  subject 
matter,  no  matter  how  beautiful  and  true  it  may  be, 
as  a  means  to  an  end.  The  end  sought  is  certain  de- 
sired changes  in  the  life,  thought,  and  experience  of 
the  child.  There  are  hosts  of  teachers  who  can  teach 
grammar  (or  the  Bible),  but  comparatively  few  who 
can  teach  John. 

This  does  not  mean  that  the  material  we  teach  is 
unimportant,  nor  that  we  can  fulfill  our  duty  as  teachers 
without  the  use  of  interesting,  fruitful,  and  inspiring 
subject  matter.  It  does  not  mean  that  we  are  not  to 
love  the  subject  we  teach,  and  feel  our  heart  thrill  in 
response  to  its  beauty  and  truth. 

Making  subject  matter  a  means  instead  of  an 
end. — One  who  is  not  filled  with  enthusiasm  for  a 
subject  has  no  moral  right  to  attempt  to  teach  it,  for 
the  process  will  be  dead  and  lifeless,  failing  to  kindle 
the  fires  of  response  in  his  pupils  and  lacking  in  vital 
results.  But  the  true  teacher  never  loves  a  body  of 
subject  matter  for  its  own  sake;  he  loves  it  for  what 
through  it  he  can  accomplish  in  the  lives  of  those  he 
teaches. 

As  a  student^  searching  for  the  hidden  meanings  and 
thrilling  at  the  unfolding  beauties  of  some  field  of 
truth  which  we  are  investigating,  we  may  love  the  thing 
we  study  for  its  own  sake;  and  who  of  us  does  not  feel 
in  that  way  toward  sections  of  our  Bible,  a  poem,  the 
record  of  noble  lives,  or  the  perfection  of  some  bit  of 
scientific  truth?  But  when  we  face  about  and  become 
the  teacher,  when  our  purpose  is  not  our  own  learning 


36  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

but  the  teaching  of  another,  then  our  attitude  must 
change.  We  will  then  love  our  cherished  body  of  ma- 
terial not  less,  but  differently.  We  will  now  care  for 
the  thing  we  teach  as  an  artisan  cares  for  his  familiar 
instruments  or  the  artist  cares  for  his  brush — we  will 
prize  it  as  the  means  through  which  we  shall  attain  a 
desired  end. 

Subject  matter  always  subordinate  to  life. — 
It  will  help  us  to  understand  the  significance  of  this 
fundamental  principle  if  we  pause  to  realize  that  all 
the  matter  we  teach  our  children  had  its  origin  in  hu- 
man experience;  it  was  first  a  part  of  human  life.  Our 
scientific  discoveries  have  come  out  of  the  pressure  of 
necessities  that  nature  has  put  upon  us,  and  what  we 
now  put  into  our  textbooks  first  was  lived  by  men  and 
women  in  the  midst  of  the  day's  activities.  The  deep 
thoughts,  the  beautiful  sentiments,  and  the  high  aspira- 
tions expressed  in  our  literature  first  existed  and  found 
expression  in  the  lives  of  people.  The  cherished  truths 
of  our  Bible  and  its  laws  for  our  spiritual  development 
appeal  to  our  hearts  just  because  they  have  arisen  from 
the  lives  of  countless  thousands,  and  so  have  the  reality 
of  living  experience. 

There  is,  therefore,  no  abstract  truth  for  truth's  sake. 
Just  as  all  our  culture  material — our  science,  our  liter- 
ature, our  body  of  religious  truth — had  its  rise  out 
of  the  experience  of  men  engaged  in  the  great  business 
of  living,  so  all  this  material  must  go  back  to  life  for 
its  meaning  and  significance.  The  science  we  teach 
in  our  schools  attains  its  end,  not  when  it  is  learned 
as  a  group  of  facts,  but  when  it  has  been  set  at  work 
by  those  who  learn  it  to  the  end  that  they  live  better, 
happier,  and  more  fruitful  lives.  The  literature  we  offer 
our  children  has  fulfilled  its  purpose,  not  when  they  have 


THE  GREAT  OBJECTIVE  37 

studied  the  mechanism  of  its  structure,  read  its  pages, 
or  committed  to  memory  its  lines,  but  when  its  glow- 
ing ideals  and  high  aspirations  have  been  realized  in 
the  lives  of  those  who  learn  it. 

And  so  this  also  holds  for  the  Bible  and  its  religious 
truth.  Its  rich  lessons  full  of  beautiful  meaning  may- 
be recited  and  its  choicest  verses  stored  in  the  memory 
and  still  be  barren  of  results,  except  as  they  are  put 
to  the  test  and  find  expression  in  living  experience. 
The  only  true  test  of  learning  a  thing  is  whether  the 
learner  lives  it.  The  only  true  test  of  the  value  of  what 
one  learns  is  the  extent  to  which  it  affects  his  daily  life. 
The  value  of  our  teaching  is  therefore  always  to  be 
measured  by  the  degree  to  which  it  finds  expression 
in  the  lives  of  our  pupils.  John^  not  granmaar  (nor 
even  the  Bible),  is  the  true  objective  of  our  teaching. 

EFFECT  OF  THE  OBJECTIVE  ON  OUR  TEACHING 

Not  only  will  this  point  of  view  vitalize  our  teach- 
ing for  the  pupils,  but  it  will  also  save  it  from  becoming 
commonplace  and  routine  for  ourselves.  This  truth  is 
brought  out  in  a  conversation  that  occurred  between 
an  old  schoolmaster  and  his  friend,  a  business  man. 

The  true  objective  saves  from  the  rut  of  routine. 
— Said  the  business  man,  *^Do  you  teach  the  same 
subjects  year  after  year?" 

The  schoolmaster  replied  that  he  did. 

*^Do  you  not  finally  come  to  know  this  material 
all  by  heart,  so  that  it  is  old  to  you?"  asked  the  friend. 

The  schoolmaster  answered  that  such  was  the  case. 

*  *And  yet  you  must  keep  going  over  the  same  ground, 
class  after  class  and  year  after  year!"  exclaimed  the 
business  man. 

The  schoolmaster  admitted  that  it  was  so. 


38  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

^'Then/'  said  his  friend,  *'I  should  think  that  you 
would  tire  beyond  endurance  of  the  old  facts,  and  grow 
weary  beyond  expression  of  repeating  them  after  the 
charm  of  novelty  and  newness  has  gone.  How  do  you 
live  through  the  sameness  and  grind?" 

*'You  forget  one  thing!"  exclaimed  the  old  school- 
master, who  had  learned  the  secret  of  the  great  objective, 
*^You  forget  that  I  am  not  really  teaching  that  old 
subject  matter  at  all;  I  am  teaching  living  boys  and 
girls!  The  matter  I  teach  may  become  familiar.  It 
may  have  lost  the  first  thrill  of  novelty.  But  the  boys 
and  girls  are  always  new;  their  hearts  and  minds  are 
always  fresh  and  inviting;  their  lives  are  always  open 
to  new  impressions,  and  their  feet  ready  to  be  turned 
in  new  directions.  The  old  subject  matter  is  but  the 
means  by  which  I  work  upon  this  living  material  that 
comes  to  my  classroom  from  day  to  day.  I  should  no 
more  think  of  growing  tired  of  it  than  the  musician 
would  think  of  growing  tired  of  his  violin." 

And  so  the  schoolmaster's  friend  was  well  answered. 

Unsafe  measures  of  success. — It  is  possible  to  lodge 
much  subject  matter  in  the  mind  which,  once  there, 
does  not  function.  It  is  possible  to  teach  many  facts 
which  play  no  part  in  shaping  the  ideals,  quickening 
the  enthusiasms,  or  directing  the  conduct,  And  all 
mental  material  which  Hes  dead  and  unused  is  but  so 
much  rubbish  and  lumber  of  the  mind.  It  plays  no 
part  in  the  child's  true  education,  and  it  dulls  the  edge 
of  the  learner's  interest  and  his  enjoyment  of  the  school 
and  its  instruction. 

It  is  possible  to  have  the  younger  children  in  our 
Sunday  schools  from  week  to  week  and  still  fail  to 
secure  sufl&cient  hold  on  them  so  that  they  continue 
to  come  after  they  have  reached  the  age  of  deciding 


THE  GREAT  OBJECTIVE  39 

for  themselves.  The  proof  of  this  is  all  too  evident 
in  the  relatively  small  proportion  of  youth  in  our  church- 
school  classes  between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and  twenty-five. 

It  is  possible  to  offer  the  child  lessons  from  the  Bible 
throughout  all  the  years  of  childhood,  and  yet  fail  to 
ground  sufficient  interest  in  the  Bible  or  religion  so 
that  in  later  years  the  man  or  woman  naturally  turns 
to  the  Bible  for  guidance  or  comfort,  and  fails  to  make 
religion  the  determining  principle  of  the  life. 

The  child  the  only  true  measure  of  success. — 
Let  us  therefore  be  sure  of  our  objective.  Let  us  never 
be  proud  nor  satisfied  that  we  have  taught  our  class 
so  much  subject  matter — so  many  facts,  maxims,  or 
lessons  of  whatever  kind.  We  shall  need  to  teach 
them  all  these  things,  and  teach  them  well.  But  we 
must  inquire  further.  We  must  ask.  What  have  these 
things  done  for  the  boys  and  girls  of  my  class?  What 
has  been  the  outcome  of  my  teaching?  How  much 
effect  has  it  had  in  life,  character,  conduct?  In 
how  far  are  my  pupils  different  for  having  been  in  my 
class,  and  for  the  lessons  I  have  taught  them?  In 
how  far  have  I  accomplished  the  trtie  objective  of  my 
teaching? 

Let  us  never  feel  secure  merely  because  the  children 
are  found  in  the  Sunday  school,  and  because  the  sta- 
tistical reports  show  increase  in  numbers  and  in  average 
attendance.  These  things  are  all  well;  without  them 
we  cannot  do  the  work  which  the  church  should  do 
for  its  children.  But  these  are  but  the  externals,  the 
outward  signs.  We  must  still  inquire  what  real  in- 
fluence the  school  is  having  on  the  growing  spiritual 
life  of  its  children.  We  must  ask  what  part  our  in- 
struction is  having  in  the  making  of  Christians.  We 
must  measure  all  our  success  in  terms  of  the  child's 


40  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

response  to  our  efforts.  We  must  realize  that  we  have 
failed  except  as  we  have  caused  the  child's  spiritual 
nature  to  unfold  and  his  character  to  grow  toward  the 
Christ  ideal. 

1.  As  you  think  of  your  own  teaching,  are  you  able 
to  decide  whether  you  have  been  sufficiently  clear  in 
yom-  objective?  Have  you  rather  assumed  that  if  you 
presented  the  lessons  as  they  came  the  results  must  of 
necessity  follow,  or  have  you  been  alive  to  the  real  effects 
on  your  pupils? 

2.  Are  you  able  to  discover  definite  changes  that  are 
working  out  in  the  lives  of  yoiur  pupils  from  month  to 
month  as  you  have  them  under  your  instruction?  Are 
they  more  reverent,  more  truthfiil,  m_ore  sure  against 
temptation,  increasingly  conscious  of  God  in  their  lives? 
What  other  effects  might  you  look  for? 

3.  Do  you  think  that  the  church  is  in  some  degree 
overlooking  its  most  strategic  opportunity  in  not  pro- 
viding more  efficiently  for  the  religious  education  of  its 
children?  If  more  attention  were  given  to  religious  nur- 
ture of  children,  would  the  problems  of  evangelism  be 
less  pressing,  and  a  larger  proportion  of  adults  foimd  in 
the  church?  What  can  the  chtu-ch  school  do  to  help? 
What  can  your  class  do? 

4.  Do  you  love  the  matter  that  you  seek  to  teach  the 
children?  Do  you  love  it  for  what  it  means  to  you, 
or  for  what  through  it  you  can  do  for  them?  Do  you 
look  upon  the  material  you  teach  truly  as  a  means  and 
not  as  an  end?  Are  you  teaching  subject  matter  or 
children? 

5.  Do  you  feel  the  real  worth  and  dignity  of  child- 
hood? Do  you  sometimes  stop  to  remember  that  the 
ignorant  child  before  you  to-day  may  become  the  Phillips 
Brooks,  the  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  the  Livingstone,  the 
Frances  Willard,  the  Luther  of  to-morrow?  Do  you 
realize  the  responsibility  that  one  takes  upon  himself 


THE  GREAT  OBJECTIVE  41 

when  he  undertakes   to   guide   the   development   of  a 
life? 

6.  Can  you  now  make  a  statement  of  the  measures 
that  you  will  wish  to  apply  to  determine  your  degree  of 
success  as  a  teacher?  It  will  be  worth  yoiu*  while  to 
try  to  make  a  Hst  of  the  immediate  objectives  you  will 
seek  for  yotir  class  to  attain  in  their  personal  lives.  Keep 
this  Hst  and  see  whether  it  is  modified  by  the  chapters 
that  lie  ahead. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING 

Harrison,  A  Study  of  Child  Nature. 

Moxcey,  Girlhood  and  Character. 

Dawson,  The  Child  and  His  Religion. 

Forbush,  The  Boy  Problem. 

Richardson  (Editor),  The  American  Home  oeries. 

Richardson,  Religious  Education  of  Adolescents. 


pfr^. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  FOURFOLD  FOUNDATION  ^ 

All  good  teaching  rests  on  a  fourfold  foundation  of 
principles.  These  principles  are  the  same  from  the 
kindergarten  to  the  university,  and  they  apply  equally 
to  the  teaching  of  religion  in  the  church  school  or  sub- 
jects in  the  day  school.  Every  teacher  must  answer 
four  questions  growing  out  of  these  principles,  or, 
failing  to  answer  them,  classify  himself  with  the  un- 
worthy and  incompetent.  These  are  the  four  supreme 
questions: 


.yx^^  J   What  definite  aims  have  I  set  as  the  goal  of  my 
teaching?    What  outcomes  do  I  seek?  '  "^ 

I      .         2.  What  material,  or  subject  matter,  will  best  accom- 
»fioXlA>L  •^ijiish  these  aims?    What  shall  I  stress  and  what  shall 
I  omit? 
"    i  -A.     3-  How  can  this  material  best  be  organized,  or  ar- 
■<>  ranged,  to  adapt  it  to  the  child  in  his  learning?    How 
shall  I  plan  my  material? 

4.  What  shall  be  my  plan  or  method  of  presentation 
of  this  material  to  make  it  achieve  its  purpose?    What 
^^^^^jj^4~    of  my  technique  of  instruction? 

THE  AIM  IN  TEACHING   RELIGION 

First  of  all,  the  teacher  of  rehgion  must  have  an  aim; 
he  must  know  what  ends  he  seeks  to  accomplish.  Some 
statistically  minded  person  has   computed   that,   with 

1  The  point  of  view  and  in  some  degree  the  outlines  of  this  and  several  follow- 
ing chapters  have  been  adapted  from  the  author's  text  "Class-Room  Method 
and  Management,"  by  permission  of  the  publishers,  The  Bobbs •  Merrill  Co., 
Indianapolis. 


THE  FOURFOLD  FOUNDATION  43 

all  the  marvelous  accuracy  of  aiming  modem  guns, 
more  than  one  thousand  shots  are  fired  for  every  man 
hit  in  battle.  One  cannot  but  wonder  how  many  shots 
would  be  required  to  hit  a  man  if  the  guns  were  not 
aimed  at  anything! 

Is  the  analogy  too  strong?  Is  the  teacher  more  likely 
than  the  gunner  to  reach  his  objective  without  con- 
sciously aiming  at  it?  And  can  the  teacher  set  up 
for  attainment  as  definite  aims  as  are  offered  the  gunner? 
Do  we  know  just  what  ends  we  seek  in  the  religious 
training  of  our  children? 

Life  itself  sets  the  aim. — This  much  at  least  is  cer- 
tain. We  know  where  to  look  for  the  aims  that  must 
guide  us.  We  shall  not  try  to  formulate  an  aim  for 
our  teaching  out  of  our  own  thought  or  reasoning  upon 
the  subject.  We  shall  rather  look  out  upon  life,  the 
the  life  the  child  is  now  living  and  the  later  life  he  is 
to  Uve,  and  ask:  ^What  are  the  demands  that  life  makes 
on  the  individual?  What  is  the  equipment  this  child 
will  need  as  he  meets  the  problems  and  tests  of  experience 
in  the  daily  round  of  Kving?  What  qualities  and  powers 
will  he  require  that  he  may  the  most  fully  realize  his 
own  potentialities  and  at  the  same  time  most  fruit- 
fully serve  his  generation?  What  abilities  must  he 
have  trained  in  order  that  he  may  the  most  completely 
express  God's  plan  for  his  life?"  When  we  can  answer 
such  questions  as  these  we  shall  have  defined  the  aim 
of  reUgious  education  and  of  our  teaching.  ^rt^^-' 

The  knowledge  aim. — First  of  all,  life  demands 
knowledge.  There  are  things  that  we  must  know  if  ^"^ 
we  are  to  avoid  dangers  and  pitfalls.  Knowledge  shows 
the  way,  while  ignorance  shrouds  the  path  in  darkness. 
To  be  without  knowledge  is  to  be  as  a  ship  without 
a  rudder,  left  to  drift  on  the  rocks  and  shoals.    The 


44  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

reKgious  life  is  intelligent;  it  must  grasp,  understand, 
and  know  how  to  use  many  great  truths.  To  supply 
our  children  with  religious  knowledge  is,  therefore,  one 
of  the  chief  aims  of  our  teaching. 

Yet  not  all  knowledge  is  of  equal  worth.  Even 
religious  knowledge  is  of  all  degrees  of  fruitfulness. 
Some  knowledge,  once  acquired,  fails  to  function.  It 
has  no  point  of  contact  with  our  Hves.  It  does  not 
deal  with  matters  we  are  meeting  in  the  day's  round 
of  experience.  It  therefore  lies  in  the  mind  unused,  or, 
because  it  is  not  used,  it  quickly  passes  from  the  memory 
and  is  gone.  Such  knowledge  as  this  is  of  no  real  value. 
It  is  not  worth  the  time  and  effort  put  upon  its  mastery; 
and  it  crowds  out  other  and  more  fruitful  knowledge 
that  might  take  its  place. 

To  be  a  true  end  of  education,  knowledge  must  be 
of  such  nature  that  it  can  be  put  at  work.  It  must  relate 
to  actual  needs  and  problems.  It  must  have  imme- 
diate and  vital  points  of  contact  with  the  child's  com- 
mon experiences.  The  child  must  be  able  to  see  the 
relation  of  the  truths  he  learns  to  his  own  interests 
and  activities.  He  must  feel  their  value  and  see  their 
use  in  his  work  and  in  his  play.  This  is  as  true  of  re- 
ligious knowledge  as  of  knowledge  of  other  kinds.  The 
religious  knowledge  the  child  needs,  therefore,  is  a  knowl- 
edge that  can  at  once  be  incorporated  in  his  life.  To 
supply  the  child  with  knowledge  of  this  vital,  fruitful 
sort  becomes,  then,  one  great  aim  in  the  teaching  of 
religion. 

But  knowledge  alone  is  not  enough.  Indeed,  knowl- 
edge is  but  the  beginning  of  reKgious  education,  whereas 
we  have  been  in  danger  of  considering  it  the  end.  Many 
there  are  who  know  the  ways  of  life  but  do  not  follow 
them.    Many  knonv  the  paths  of  duty,  but  choose  an 


THE  FOURFOLD  FOUNDATION  45^ 

easier  way.  Many  know  the  road  to  service  and  achieve- 
ment, but  do  not  enter  thereon.  If  to  do  were  as  easy 
as  to  know  what  to  do,  then  all  of  us  would  mount 
to  greater  heights. 

The  attitudes  aim. — Life  demands  goals  set  ahead 
for  achievement.  It  must  have  clearly  defined  the 
* 'worth  whiles"  which  lead  to  endeavor.  Along  with 
tEe^knowledge  that  guides  our  steps  must  be  the  im- 
pulses that  drive  to  right  action.  Besides  knowing 
what  to  do  there  must  be  inner  compelling  forces  that 
get  things  done.  The  chief  source  of  our  goals  and  of 
the  driving  power  within  us  is  what,  for  want  of  a 
better  term,  we  may  call  our  attitudes. 

Prominent  among  our  attitudes  are  the  interests , 
enthusiasms,  affections,  ambitions,  ideals,  appreciations y 
loyalties,  standards,  and  attachments  which  predominate. 
These  all  have  their  roots  set  deep  in  our  emotions; 
they  are  the  measure  of  life's  values.  They  are  the 
* 'worth  whiles"  which  give  life  its  quah'ty,  and  which 
define  the  goal  for  effort. 

Chesterton  tells  us  that  the  most  important  thing 
about  any  man  is  the  kind  of  philosophy  he  keeps — that 
is  to  say,  his  attitudes.  For  it  is  out  of  one's  attitudes 
that  his  philosophy  of  life  develops,  and  that  he  settles 
upon  the  great  aims  to  which  he  devotes  himself.  It 
is  in  one's  attitudes  that  we  find  the  springs  of  action 
and  the  incentives  to  endeavor.  It  is  in  attitudes  that 
we  find  the  forces  that  direct  conduct  and  lead  to  char- 
acter. 

To  train  the  intellect  and  store  the  mind  with  knowl- 
edge without  developing  a  fund  of  right  attitudes  to 
shape  the  course  of  action  is  therefore  even  fraught 
with  danger.  The  men  in  positions  of  political  power 
who  often  misgovern  cities  or  use  public  office  as  a 


4^  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

means  to  private  gain  do  not  act  from  lack  of  knowledge 
or  in  ignorance  of  civic  duty;  their  failure  is  one  of  ideals 
and  loyalties;  their  attitude  toward  social  trust  and 
service  to  their  fellow  men  is  wrong.  The  men  who 
use  their  power  of  wealth  to  oppress  the  poor  and  help- 
less, or  imfairly  exploit  the  labor  of  others  to  their 
own  selfish  advantage  do  not  sin  from  lack  of  knowledge; 
their  weakness  lies  in  false  standards  and  unsocial 
attitudes.  Men  and  women  everywhere  who  depart 
from  paths  of  honor  and  rectitude  fall  more  often  from 
the  lack  of  high  ideals  than  because  they  do  not  know 
the  better  way. 

The  goal  and  the  motive  power  in  all  such  cases  comes 
from  a  false  philosophy  of  life;  it  is  grounded  in  wrong 
attitudes.  The  education  of  those  who  thus  miscon- 
ceive life  has  failed  of  one  of  its  chief  aims — to  develop 
right  attitudes.    Hence  character  is  wanting. 

The  conduct,  or  application,  aim. — The  third  and 
ultimate  aim  of  education  has  been  implied  in  the 
first  two;  it  is  condtict,  right  living.  This  is  the  final 
and  sure  test  of  the  value  of  what  we  teach — how  does 
it  find  expression  in  action?  Do  our  pupils  think  dif- 
ferently, speak  differently,  act  differently  here  and  now 
because  of  what  we  teach  them?  Are  they  stronger 
when  they  meet  temptation  from  day  to  day?  Are 
they  more  sure  to  rise  to  the  occasion  when  they  con- 
front duty  or  opportunity?  Are  their  lives  more  pure 
and  free  from  sin?  Do  the  lessons  we  teach  find  ex- 
pression in  the  home,  in  the  school,  and  on  the  play- 
ground?   Is  there  a  real  outcome  in  terms  oj  daily  living? 

These  are  all  fair  questions,  for  knowledge  is  with- 
out meaning  except  as  it  becomes  a  guide  to  action. 
High  ideals  and  beautiful  enthusiasms  attain  their 
end  only  when  they  have  eventuated  in  worthy  deeds. 


i\ 


THE  FOURFOLD  FOUNDATION  47 

What  we  do  because  of  our  training  is  the  final  test 
of  its  value.  Conduct,  performance,  achievement  are 
the  ultimate  measures  of  what  our  education  has  been 
worth  to  us.  By  this  test  we  must  measure  the  effects 
of  our  teaching. 

§uinmary  of  the  threefold  aim. — The  aim  in  teach- 
ing the  child  religion  is  therefore  definite,  even  if  it  is 
difficult  to  attain.  This  aim  may  be  stated  in  three 
great  requirements  which  life  itself  puts  upon  the  child 
and  every  individual: 


.4f^^"'  I.  Fruitjid  knowledge;  knowledge  of  religious  truths 
'^c-  ihat  can  be  set  at  work  in  the  daily  life  of  the  child  now 
and  in  the  years  that  lie  ahead. 

2.  Right  attitudes;  the  religious  warmth,  responsive- 
ness, interests,  ideals,  loyalties,  and  enthusiasms  which 
lead  to  action  and  to  a  true  sense  of  what  is  most  worth 

^  while.  , i^ 

.^  3.  Skill  in  living;  the  power  and  will  to  use  the  re- 
'^  ligious  knowledge  and  enthusiasms  supplied  by  education 
^_^,in  shaping  the  acts  and  conduct  of  the  daily  life. 

Triie,  we  may  state  our  aim  in  religious  teaching  in 
more  general  terms  than  these,  but  the  meaning  will  be 
the  same.  We  may  say  that  we  would  lead  the  child 
to  a  knowledge  of  God  as  Friend  and  Father;  that  we 
seek  to  bring  him  into  a  full,  rich  experience  of  spiritual 
union  with  the  divine;  that  we  desire  to  ground  his 
life  in  personal  purity  and  free  it  from  sin;  that  we 
would  spur  him  to  a  life  crowned  with  deeds  of  self- 
sacrifice  and  Christlike  service;  that  we  would  make 
out  of  him  a  true  Christian.  This  is  well  and  is  a  high 
ideal,  but  in  the  end  it  sums  up  the  results  of  the  re- 
ligious knowledge,  attitudes,  and  acts  we  have  already 


48  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

set  forth  as  our  aim.  These  are  the  parts  of  which  the 
other  is  the  whole;  they  are  the  immediate  and  specific 
ends  which  lead  to  the  more  distant  and  general.  Let 
us,  therefore,  conceive  our  aim  in  both  ways — the  ideal 
Christian  life  as  the  final  goal  toward  which  we  are 
leading,  and  the  knowledge,  attitudes,  and  acts  that 
make  up  to-day's  Ufe  as  so  many  steps  taken  toward 
the  goal. 

SELECTING  THE  SUBJECT  MATTER 

After  the  aim  the  subject  matter.  When  we  would 
build  some  structure  we  first  get  plan  and  purpose  in 
mind;  then  we  select  the  material  that  shall  go  into  it. 
It  is  so  with  education.  Once  we  have  set  before  us 
the  aim  we  would  reach,  our  next  question  is.  What 
shall  be  the  means  of  its  attainment?  When  we  have 
fixed  upon  the  fruitful  knowledge,  the  right  attitudes, 
and  the  lines  of  conduct  and  action  which  must  result 
from  our  teaching,  we  must  then  ask,  What  means 
shall  we  select  to  achieve  these  ends?  What  material 
or  subject  matter  shall  we  teach  in  the  church  school? 

The  subject  matter  he  presents  is  the  instrumentality 
by  which  the  teacher  must  accomplish  his  aims  for  his 
class.  Through  this  material  he  must  awaken  thought, 
store  the  mind  with  vital  truths,  arouse  new  interests, 
create  ideals  and  lead  the  life  to  God.  As  the  artist 
works  with  brush  and  paint,  with  tool  and  clay,  so  the 
teacher  must  work  with  truths  and  lesson  materials. 

Guiding  principles. — Two  great  principles  must  guide 
in  the  selection  of  subject  matter  for  religious  instruction: 

^^i.  The  material  must  be  suited  to  the  aims  we  seek. 
2.  The  material  must  be  adapted  to  the  child. 

The  tools  and  instruments  the  workman  uses  must 


THE  FOURFOLD  FOUNDATION  49 

be  adapted  to  the  purpose  sought.  Ask  the  expert 
craftsman  what  kind  of  plane  or  chisel  you  should  buy 
for  a  piece  of  work  you  have  in  mind,  and  he  will  ask 
you  just  what  ends  you  seek,  what  uses  you  would  put 
them  to.  Ask  the  architect  what  materials  you  should 
have  for  the  structure  you  would  build,  and  he  will 
tell  you  that  depends  on  the  plan  and  purpose  of  your 
building. 

The  material  must  fit  the  aim. — What  materials  of 
religious  truth  should  the  teacher  bring  to  his  class? 
The  answer  is  that  truths  and  lessons  must  be  suited  to 
the  aim  we  seek.  Would  we  lead  our  children  to  under- 
stand the  Fatherhood  of  God  and  to  love  him  for  his  ten- 
der care?  Then  the  lessons  must  contain  this  thought, 
and  not  be  built  on  irrelevant  material.  Would  we 
lead  youth  to  catch  the  thrill  and  inspiration  of  noble 
lives,  to  pattern  conduct  after  worthy  deeds?  Then  our 
lesson  material  must  deal  with  the  high  and  fine  in 
character  and  action,  and  not  with  trivial  things  of 
lesser  value. 

So  also,  if  we  would  capture  the  interest  of  childhood 
for  the  church  school  and  bind  its  loyalty  to  the  church, 
the  subject  matter  we  offer  and  the  lessons  we  teach 
in  the  house  of  God  must  contain  the  glow  and  throb 
of  life,  and  not  be  dry  and  barren.  If  we  would  awaken 
religious  feeling  and  link  the  emotions  to  God,  we  must 
not  teach  empty  lessons,  meaningless  dates,  and  musty 
facts  that  fail  to  reach  the  heart  because  they  have  no 
inner  meaning. 

Small  use  to  set  high  aims  and  then  miss  them  for 
want  of  material  suited  for  their  attainment.  Small 
use  to  catalogue  the  fine  qualities  of  heart  and  mind  we 
would  train  in  our  children  and  then  fail  of  our  aim 
because  we  choose  wrong  tools  with  which  to  work. 


50  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

Not  all  facts  found  in  the  Bible  are  of  equal  worth  to 
children,  nor  are  all  rehgious  truths  of  equal  value.  Noth- 
ing should  be  taught  just  because  it  is  tru^,  nor  even 
because  it  is  found  in  the  Bible.  The  final  question  is 
whether  this  lesson  material  is  the  best  we  can  choose 
for  the  child  himself;  whether  it  will  give  him  the  knowl- 
edge he  can  use,  train  the  attitudes  he  requires,  and 
lead  to  the  acts  and  conduct  that  should  rule  his 
life. 

The  material  must  fit  the  child. — The  subject  mat- 
ter we  teach  must  also  he  fitted  to  tlw  child.  It  must  be 
within  his  grasp  and  understanding.  We  do  not  feed 
strong  meat  to  babes.  What  may  be  the  grown  per- 
son's meat  may  be  to  the  child  poison.  It  does  no  good 
to  load  the  mind  with  facts  it  cannot  comprehend.  There 
is  no  virtue  in  truths,  however  significant  and  pro- 
found, if  they  are  beyond  the  reach  of  the  child's  expe- 
rience. Matter  which  is  not  assimilated  to  the  under- 
standing is  soon  forgotten;  or  if  retained,  but  weighs 
upon  the  intellect  and  dulls  its  edge  for  further 
learning. 

K  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  we  have  quite  con- 
stantly in  most  of  our  Sunday  schools  forced  upon  the 
child  no  small  amount  of  matter  that  is  beyond  his  mental 
grasp,  and  so  far  outside  his  daily  experience  that  it 
conveys  Uttle  or  no  meaning.  We  have  over-intellectual- 
ized  the  child's  rehgion.  Jesus  was  ^*to  the  Greeks 
foolishness"  because  they  had  no  basis  of  experience 
upon  which  to  understand  his  pure  and  unselfish  life. 
May  not  many  of  the  facts,  figures,  dates,  and  events 
from  an  ancient  religion  which  we  give  young  children 
likewise  be  to  them  but  foolishness!  May  not  the 
lessons  upon  some  of  the  deepest,  finest  and  most  precious 
concepts   in   our   religioi;i,   such   as   faith,   atonement, 


THE  FOURFOLD  FOUNDATION  51 

regeneration,  repentance,  the  Trinity,  be  lost  or  worse 
than  lost  upon  our  children  because  we  force  them 
upon  unripe  minds  and  hearts  at  an  age  when  they  are 
not  ready  for  them? 

Let  us  then,  not  forget  the  child  when  we  teach  religion ! 
Let  us  not  assume  that  truths  and  lessons  are  an  end 
in  themselves.  Let  us  constantly  ask,  as  we  prepare 
our  lessons.  Will  this  material  work  as  a  true  leaven 
in  the  life?  Will  it  take  root  and  blossom  into  character, 
fine  thought,  and  worthy  conduct?  While  our  children 
dumbly  ask  for  Hving  bread  let  us  not  give  them  dead 
stones  and  dry  husks,  which  cannot  feed  their  souls! 
Let  us  adapt  our  subject  matter  to  the  child. 

The  use  of  stress  and  neglect. — That  the  lesson 
material  printed  in  the  Sunday  school  booklets  is  not 
always  well  adapted  to  the  children  every  teacher 
knows.  But  there  it  is,  and  what  can  we  do  but  teach 
it,  though  it  may  sometimes  miss  the  mark? 

There  is  one  remedy  the  wise  and  skillful  teacher 
always  has  at  his  command.  By  the  use  of  stress  and 
neglect  the  matter  of  the  lesson  may  be  made  to  take 
quite  different  forms.  The  points  that  are  too  difficult 
may  be  omitted  or  but  Kttle  emphasized.  The  matter 
that  best  fits  the  child  may  be  stressed  and  its  appK- 
cation  made.  Illustrations,  stories,  and  lessons  from 
outside  sources  may  be  introduced  to  suit  the  aim. 
Great  truths  may  be  restated  in  terms  within  child- 
hood's comprehension.  The  true  teacher,  like  the 
craftsman,  will  select  now  this  tool,  now  that  to  meet 
his  purpose.  Regardless  of  what  the  printed  lesson 
offers,  he  will  reject  or  use,  supplement  or  replace  with 
new  material  as  the  needs  of  his  class  may  demand. 
The  true  teacher  will  be  the  master,  and  not  the  servant, 
of  the  subject  matter  he  uses. 


52  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

HOW  SHALL  WE  ORGANIZE  AND  PLAN  THE  LESSONS  ? 

When  the  content  of  the  subject  matter  has  been  de- 
cided upon  then  comes  its  organization.  How  shall  we 
arrange  and  plan  the  material  we  teach  so  as  to  give 
the  children  the  easiest  and  most  natural  mode  of 
approach  to  its  learning? 

The  great  law  here  is  that  the  arrangement  of  subject 
matter  must  be  psychological.  This  only  means  that  we 
must  always  ask  ourselves  how  will  the  child  most 
easily  and  naturally  enter  upon  the  learning  of  this 
material?  How  can  I  organize  it  for  the  recitation  so 
that  it  will  most  strongly  appeal  to  his  interest?  How 
can  I  arrange  it  so  that  it  will  be  most  easily  grasped 
and  understood?  How  can  I  plan  the  lesson  so  that  its 
relation  to  immediate  life  and  conduct  will  be  most  clear 
and  its  application  most  surely  made? 

The  psychological  mode  of  approach. — I  recently 
happened  into  a  junior  Sunday  school  class  where  the 
lesson  was  on  faith.  The  teacher  evidently  did  not 
know  how  to  plan  for  a  psychological  mode  of  approach 
to  this  difficult  concept.  He  began  by  defining  faith 
in  Paul's  phrase  as  ^'the  substance  of  things  hoped  for; 
the  e\idence  of  things  not  seen."  He  then  went  to  the 
dictionary  definition,  which  shows  the  relation  of  faith 
to  belief.  He  discussed  the  relation  of  faith  to  works, 
as  presented  in  the  writings  of  James.  But  all  to  no 
avail.  The  class  was  uninterested  and  inattentive. 
The  lesson  did  not  take  hold.  The  time  was  wasted 
and  the  opportunity  lost.  I  excused  myself  and  went 
to  another  classroom. 

Here  they  had  the  same  topic.  But  the  teacher  had 
sought  for  and  found  a  starting  point  from  which  to 
explain  the  meaning  of  faith  in  terms  that  the  children 
could  understand.    The  teacher's  eye  rested  for  a  mo- 


THE  FOURFOLD  FOUNDATION  53 

ment  on  John;  then:  ^^John,  when  does  your  next  birth- 
day come?" 

*  'The  sixteenth  of  next  month/'  replied  John  promptly. 

''Going  to  get  any  presents,  do  you  think?"  asked  the 
teacher. 

"Yes,  sir,"  answered  John  with  conviction. 

"What  makes  you  think  so?"  inquired  the  teacher. 
"Not  everybody  does  receive  birthday  presents,  you 
know." 

"But  I  am  sure  I  will,"  persisted  John.  "You  see, 
I  know  my  father  and  mother.  They  have  never  yet 
let  one  of  my  birthdays  pass  without  remembering  me, 
and  I  am  sure  they  are  not  going  to  begin  to  forget 
me  now.    They  think  too  much  of  me." 

'  'You  seem  to  have  a  good  deal  of  faith  in  your  father 
and  mother,"  remarked  the  teacher. 

"Well  I  guess  I  haver  was  John's  enthusiastic  re- 
sponse. 

And  right  at  this  point  the  way  was  wide  open  to 
show  John  and  the  class  the  meaning  of  faith  in  a  heav- 
enly Father.  The  wise  teacher  had  found  a  point  of  con- 
tact in  John's  faith  in  the  love  and  care  of  his  parents, 
and  it  was  but  a  step  from  this  to  the  broader  and 
deeper  faith  in  God. 

It  is  a  law  of  human  nature  that  we  are  all  interested 
first  of  all  in  what  affects  our  own  lives.  Our  attention 
turns  most  easily  to  what  relates  to  or  grows  out  of  our 
own  experience.  The  immediate  and  the  concrete  are 
the  natural  and  most  effective  starting  points  for  our 
thought.  The  distant  and  remote  exert  little  appeal 
to  our  interest;  it  is  the  near  that  counts.  Especially 
do  these  rules  hold  for  children. 

Making  sure  of  a  point  of  contact. — All  these  facts 
point  the  way  for  the  teacher  in  the  planning  and  organ- 


'^ 


$4  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

ization  of  material  for  his  class.  The  point  of  departure 
must  always  be  sought  in  some  immediate  interest  or 
activity  in  the  life  of  the  child,  and  not  in  some  abstract 
truth  or  far-away  lesson,  however  precious  these  may 
be  to  the  adult  Christian.  And  no  lesson  is  ready  for 
presentation  until  the  way  into  the  child's  interest  and 
comprehension  has  been  found.  Many  a  lesson  that 
might  have  been  full  of  rich  spiritual  meaning  for  the 
child  has  been  lost  to  our  pupils  because  it  was  presented 
out  of  season,  or  because  the  vital  connection  between 
the  truth  and  the  child's  experience  was  not  discovered 
by  the  teacher. 

This  principle  suggests  that  in  the  main  children 
should  not  be  taught  religious  truths  in  terms  which 
they  cannot  grasp,  nor  in  such  a  way  that  the  appli- 
cation to  their  own  lives  is  not  clear.  For  example, 
the  vital  truths  contained  in  the  church  catechisms  are 
not  for  children;  the  statement  of  them  is  too  abstract 
and  difficult,  and  the  meaning  too  remote  from  the 
child's  experience.  Many  of  the  same  truths  can  be 
presented  to  children  in  the  form  of  stories  or  illustra- 
tions; other  of  the  truths  may  rest  until  the  child  be- 
comes older  before  claiming  his  attention.  Bible  verses 
and  sentiments  completely  outside  the  child's  compre- 
hension are  not  good  material  for  memorizing.  Lessons 
upon  the  more  difficult  concepts  and  deeper  problems 
of  religion  belong  to  the  adult  age,  and  should  not  be 
forced  upon  children. 

Our  guiding  principle,  therefore,  is  to  keep  close  to 
the  mind,  heart,  and  daily  life  of  childhood.  Then  adapt 
the  subject  matter  we  teach  to  the  mind,  interests,  and  needs 
of  those  we  teach.  Definitions,  rules,  abstract  statements, 
general  truths  have  little  or  no  value  with  children. 
It  is  the  story,  the  concrete  incident,  the  direct  appli- 


THE  FOURFOLD  FOUNDATION  55 

cation   growing  out  of  their  own  experiences  that  takes 
hold. 

PRESENTING  THE   LESSON — INSTRUCTION 

After  the  aim  has  been  clearly  conceived,  and  after 
the  lesson  material  has  been  wisely  chosen  and  properly 
organized,  there  still  remains  the  most  important  part 
— that  of  ^'getting  the  lesson  across"  to  the  class. 
Many  a  valuable  lesson,  full  of  helpfulness,  has  been 
lost  to  the  pupils  because  the  teacher  lacked  the  power 
to  bring  his  class  to  the  right  pitch  for  receiving  and 
retaining  impressions.  Many  a  class  period  has  been 
wasted  because  the  teacher  failed  to  present  the  ma- 
terial of  the  lesson  so  that  it  gripped  interest  and  com- 
pelled attention. 

Response  a  test  of  instruction. — The  first  test  of 
good  instruction  is  the  response  of  tite  class.  Are  the 
children  alert?  Are  they  keen  for  discussion,  or  for 
listening  to  stories  told  or  applications  made?  Do  they 
think?  Do  they  enjoy  the  lesson  hour,  and  give  them- 
selves happily  and  whole-heartedly  to  it?  Is  their  con- 
duct good,  and  their  attitude  serious,  reverent,  and 
attentive?  Are  they  all  ^^in  the  game,"  or  are  there 
laggards,  inattentive  ones,  and  mischief-makers? 

These  questions  are  all  crucial.  For  the  first  law  of 
all  learning  is  self-activity.  There  is  no  possibility  of 
teaching  a  child  who  is  not  mentally  awake.  Only  the 
active  mind  grasps,  assimilates,  remembers,  appHes. 
The  birth  of  new  ideas,  the  reaching  of  convictions,  the 
arriving  at  decisions  all  come  in  moments  of  mental 
stress  and  tension.  Lethargy  of  thought  and  feehng 
is  fatal  to  all  class-room  achievement.  Therefore,  no 
matter  how  keenly  alert  the  teacher's  mind  may  be, 
no  matter  how  skillful  his  analysis  of  an  important 


S6  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

truth  may  be  if  his  class  sit  with  flagging  interest  and 
lax  attention. 

Resxilts  a  test  of  instruction. — The  second  test  of 
good  instruction  is  our  skill  in  handling  the  material 
of  the  lesson,  and  shaping  the  trend  oj  thought  and  dis- 
cussion. Are  the  children  interested  in  the  right  things? 
Are  the  central  truths  of  the  lesson  being  brought  out 
and  applied?  Is  the  discussion  centered  on  topics  set 
for  our  consideration,  or  does  it  degenerate  into  aim- 
less talk  on  matters  of  personal  or  local  interest  which 
have  no  relation  to  the  lesson?  In  short,  does  the 
recitation  period  yield  the  fruitful  knowledge  we  had 
set  as  a  goal  for  this  lesson?  Does  it  stimulate  the 
attitudes  and  motives  we  had  meant  to  reach?  Does 
it  lead  to  the  applications  in  life  and  conduct  which 
were  intended?     Does  it  get  results? 

The  four  points  of  this  lesson  are  of  supreme  im- 
portance in  teaching  religion.  The  aim  must  be  clear, 
definite,  and  possible  of  attainment.  The  subject  matter 
of  instruction  must  be  wisely  selected  as  an  instrument 
for  reaching  the  aim  set  forth.  The  organization  of  this 
material  must  adapt  it  to  the  mind  and  needs  of  the 
child.  The  presentation  of  the  lesson  material  in  the 
recitation  must  be  such  that  its  full  effect  is  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  mind  and  heart  of  those  we  teach. 

Each  of  these  four  points  will  be  further  elaborated 
in  the  chapters  which  follow.  In  fact,  the  remainder 
of  the  text  is  chiefly  a  working  out  and  applying  of 
these  fundamental  principles  to  the  teaching  of  religion. 

I.  To  what  extent  would  you  say  you  have  been 
directing  your  teaching  toward  a  definite  aim?  Just  how 
does  the  problem  of  this  chapter  relate  itself  to  the  pre- 
ceding chapter  on  the  "Great  Objective"? 


THE  FOURFOLD  FOUNDATION  57 

2.  Do  you  think  the  majority  of  those  who  have  come 
up  through  the  church  school  possess  as  full  and  definite 
a  knowledge  of  the  Bible  and  the  fundamentals  of  re- 
ligion as  we  have  a  right  to  expect?  If  not,  where  is 
the  trouble  and  what  the  remedy? 

3.  Have  you  been  consciously  emphasizing  the  creation 
of  right  attitudes  as  one  of  the  chief  outcomes  of  your 
teaching?  Do  you  judge  that  you  are  as  successful  in 
the  developing  of  religious  attitudes  as  in  imparting 
information?    If  not,  can  you  find  a  remedy? 

4.  To  what  extent  do  you  think  your  instruction  is 
actually  carrying  over  into  the  immediate  life  and  con- 
duct of  your  class  in  their  home,  school,  etc.?  If  not 
to  so  great  an  extent  as  you  could  wish,  are  you  willing 
to  make  this  one  of  the  great  aims  of  your  teaching  from 
this  time  on,  seeking  earnestly  throughout  this  text  and 
in  other  ways  to  learn  how  this  may  be  done? 

5.  Do  you  on  the  whole  feel  that  the  subject  matter 
you  are  teaching  yoiir  pupils  is  adapted  to  the  aims  you 
seek  to  reach  in  their  lives?  If  not,  how  can  you  supple- 
ment and  change  to  make  it  more  effective?  Have  you 
a  broad  enough  knowledge  of  such  material  yourself  so 
that  you  can  select  material  from  other  sources  for  them? 

6.  To  what  extent  do  you  definitely  plan  each  lesson  for 
the  particular  children  you  teach  so  as  to  make  it  most 
accessible  to  their  interest  and  grasp?  Do  you  plan  each 
lesson  to  secure  a  psychological  mode  of  approach  ?  How 
do  you  know  when  you  have  a  psychological  approach  ? 

FOR  FURTHER  READING 

Betts,  Class-Room  Method  and  Management,  Part  I. 
Coe,  A  Social  Theory  of  Religious  Education,  Part  II. 
DuBois,  The  Point  of  Contact  in  Teaching. 


CHAPTER  IV 
RELIGIOUS  KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH 

The  child  comes  into  the  world  devoid  of  all  knowl- 
edge and  understanding.  His  mind,  though  at  the 
beginning  a  blank,  is  a  potential  seedbed  in  which  we 
may  plant  what  teachings  we  will.  The  babe  born 
into  our  home  to-day  can  with  equal  ease  be  made  into 
a  Christian,  a  Buddhist,  or  a  Mohammedan.  He 
brings  with  him  the  instinct  to  respond  to  the  appeal 
religion  makes  to  his  life,  but  the  kind  and  quality  of 
his  religion  will  depend  largely  on  the  religious  atmos- 
phere he  breathes  and  the  religious  ideas  and  concepts 
placed  in  his  mind  through  instruction  and  training. 

What,  then,  shall  we  teach  our  children  in  religion? 
If  fruitful  knowledge  is  to  be  one  of  the  chief  aims  of 
our  teaching,  what  knowledge  shall  we  call  fruitful? 
What  are  the  great  foundations  on  which  a  Christian 
life  must  rest?  Years  ago  Spencer  wrote  a  briUiant 
essay  on  knowledge  of  most  worth  in  the  field  of  general 
education.  What  knowledge  is  of  most  worth  in  the 
field  of  religious  education?  For  not  all  knowledge,  as 
we  have  seen,  is  of  equal  value.  Some  rehgious  knowl- 
edge is  fruitful  because  it  can  he  set  at  work  to  shape  our 
attitudes  and  guide  our  acts;  other  religious  knowledge 
is  relatively  fruitless  because  it  finds  no  point  of  con- 
tact with  experience. 

To  answer  our  question  we  must  therefore  ask; 
*^What  knowledge  will  serve  to  guide  the  child's  foot- 
steps aright  from  day  to  day  as  he  passes  through  his 
childhood?   What  truths  will  even  now,  while  he  is  still 

58 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH  59 

a  child,  awaken  his  spiritual  appreciation  and  touch  the 
springs  of  his  emotional  response  to  the  heavenly  Father? 
What  religious  concepts,  once  developed,  will  lead  the 
youth  into  a  rich  fullness  of  personal  experience  and 
develop  in  him  the  will  and  capacity  to  serve  others? 
What  reHgious  knowledge  will  finally  make  most  cer- 
tain a  life  of  loyalty  to  the  church  and  the  great  cause 
for  which  it  stands?"  When  we  can  answer  these 
questions  we  shall  then  be  able  to  say  what  knowledge 
is  of  most  worth  in  the  religious  training  of  our  children. 


The  child  must  come  to  know  about  God,  even  as 
a  little  child.  Long  before  he  can  understand  about 
religion,  he  can  learn  about  a  heavenly  Father.  This 
does  not  imply  that  the  child  (or  that  we  ourselves!) 
can  know  God  in  any  full  or  complete  way.  Indeed, 
a  God  who  could  be  known  in  his  entirety  by  even  the 
deepest  and  wisest  finite  mind  would  be  no  God  at  all. 
Yet  everyone  must  give  some  meaning  to  God.  Every- 
one does  have  some  more  or  less  definite  idea,  image, 
or  mental  picture  of  the  God  he  thinks  about,  prays  to, 
and  worships. 

The  child's  idea  of  God  develops  gradually. — 
We  need  not  be  concerned  that  God  does  not  mean 
the  same  to  the  child  with  his  mental  limitations  that 
he  means  to  us.  Meaning  comes  only  out  of  experience, 
and  this  will  grow.  The  great  thing  is  that  the  child's 
fundamental  concept  of  God  shall  start  right,  that  in 
so  far  as  it  goes  it  shall  be  essentially  true,  and  that 
it  shall  be  clear  and  definite  enough  to  guide  his  actions. 
More  than  this  we  cannot  ask  for;  less  than  this  does 
not  give  the  child  a  God  real  enough  to  be  a  vital  fac- 
tor and  an  active  force  in  his  life. 


6o  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

It  is  to  be  expected,  then,  that  the  child's  earliest 
concepts  of  God  will  be  faulty  and  incomplete,  and 
that  in  many  points  they  will  later  need  correction. 
Probably  most  children  first  think  of  God  as  having 
human  form  and  attributes;  the  idea  of  spirit  is  beyond 
their  grasp.  God  is  to  them  a  kind  of  magnified  and 
glorified  Father  after  the  type  of  their  earthly  father. 
This  need  not  concern  us  if  we  make  sure  that  the 
crude  beginnings  of  the  God-idea  have  no  disturbing 
elements  in  them,  and  that  as  the  concept  grows  it 
moves  in  the  right  direction. 

The  harm  from  false  concepts. — Mr.  H.  G.  Wells^ 
bitterly  complains  against  the  wrong  concept  of  God 
that  was  allowed  to  grow  in  his  mind  as  a  child.  These 
are  his  words:  *^He  and  his  hell  were  the  nightmare 
of  my  childhood.  ...  I  thought  of  him  as  a  fantastic 
monster  perpetually  waiting  to  condemn  and  to  strike 
me  dead! ...  He  was  over  me  and  about  my  silliness  and 
forgetfulness  as  the  sky  and  sea  would  be  about  a  child 
drowning  in  mid-Atlantic."  It  was  only  as  the  child 
grew  into  youth,  and  was  able  to  discard  this  false 
idea  of  God  that  he  came  to  feel  right  toward  him. 

The  harm  done  a  child  by  false  and  disturbing 
concepts  of  God  is  hard  to  estimate.  A  small  boy 
recently  came  home  from  Sunday  school  and  confided 
to  his  mother  that  he  '^didn't  think  it  was  fair  for  God 
to  spy  on  a  fellow!"  A  sympathetic  inquiry  by  the 
mother  revealed  the  fact  that  the  impression  brought 
from  the  lesson  hour  was  of  God  keeping  a  lookout 
for  our  wrongdoings  and  sins,  and  constantly  making 
a  record  of  them  against  us,  as  an  uns)anpathetic  teacher 
might  in  school.  The  beneficent  and  watchful  over- 
sight and  care  of  God  had  not  entered  into  the  concept. 

>  God  the  Invisible  King,  p,  44. 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH  6i 

It  is  clear  that  with  this  wrong  understanding  of  God's 
relation  to  him  the  child's  attitude  and  the  response 
of  his  heart  toward  God  could  not  be  right.  The  lesson 
hour  which  left  so  false  an  impression  of  God  in  the 
child's  mind  did  him  lasting  injury  instead  of  good. 

How  wrong  concepts  may  arise. — Pierre  Loti  tells 
in  his  reminiscences  of  his  own  child-life  how  he  went 
out  into  the  back  yard  and  threw  stones  at  God  because 
it  had  rained  and  spoiled  the  picnic  day.  In  his  teach- 
ing, God  had  been  made  responsible  for  the  weather, 
and  the  boy  had  come  to  look  upon  prayer  as  a  means 
of  getting  what  he  wanted  from  God.  It  took  many 
years  of  experience  to  rid  the  child's  mind  of  the  last 
vestiges  of  these  false  ideas.  The  writer  recalls  a  trouble- 
some idea  of  God  that  inadvertently  secured  lodgment 
in  his  own  mind  through  the  medium  of  a  picture  in 
his  first  geography.  In  the  section  on  thina  was  the 
representation  of  a  horrid,  malignant  looking  idol 
underneath  which  was  printed  the  words,  ^^A  God." 
For  many  years  the  image  of  this  picture  was  associated 
with  the  thought  of  God,  and  made  it  hard  to  respond 
to  the  concept  of  God's  beauty,  goodness,  and  kindness. 

Wrong  concepts  of  God  may  leave  positive  antago- 
nisms which  require  years  to  overcome.  A  little  girl 
of  nearly  four  years  had  just  lost  her  father.  She  did 
not  understand  the  funeral  and  the  flowers  and  the 
burial.  She  came  to  her  mother  in  the  evening  and 
asked  where  her  papa  was.  The  stricken  mother  replied 
that  ''God  had  taken  him." 

''But  when  is  he  coming  back?"  asked  the  child. 

The  mother  answered  that  he  could  not  come  back. 

"Not  ever?"  persisted  the  child. 

"Not  ever,"  whispered  the  mother. 

"Won't  God  let  him?"  asked  the  relentless  questioner. 


62  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

Tbe  heart-broken  mother  hesitated  for  a  word  of 
wisdom,  but  finally  answered,  '^No,  God  will  not  let 
him  come  back  to  us." 

Care  and  wisdom  needed. — And  in  that  moment 
the  harm  was  done.  The  child  had  formed  a  wrong 
concept  of  God  as  one  who  would  willfully  take  away 
her  father  and  not  let  him  return.  She  burst  out  in  a 
fit  of  passion:  ^'I  don't  Hke  God!  He  takes  my  papa 
and  keeps  him  away." 

That  night  she  refused  to  say  her  prayer,  and  for 
weeks  remained  rebellious  and  unforgiving  toward  the 
God  whom  she  accused  of  having  robbed  her  of  her 
father.  How  should  the  mother  have  answered  her 
child's  question?  I  cannot  tell  in  just  what  words, 
but  the  words  in  which  we  answer  the  child's  questions 
must  be  chosen  with  such  infinite  care  and  wisdom 
that  bitterness  shall  not  take  the  place  which  love 
toward  God  should  occupy  in  the  heart. 

Another  typical  difficulty  is  that  children  are  often 
led  to  think  of  God  as  a  distant  God.  A  favorite  Sunday 
school  hymn  sii^s  of  ''God  above  the  great  blue  sky." 
To  many  children  God  is  ''in  heaven,"  and  heaven 
is  localized  at  an  immeasurable  distance.  Hence  the 
fact  of  God's  nearness  is  wholly  missed.  Children  come 
to  think  of  God  as  seated  on  a  great  white  throne,  an 
aged,  austere,  and  severe  Person,  more  an  object  of 
fear  than  of  love.  And  then  we  tell  the  children  that 
they  "must  love  God,"  forgetting  that  love  never  comes 
from  a  sense  of  duty  or  compulsion,  but  springs,  when 
it  appears,  spontaneously  from  the  heart  because  it 
is  compelled  by  lovable  traits  and  appealing  qualities 
in  the  one  to  be  loved! 

The  ctmcept  of  God  which  the  diild  needs. — 
The  concept  of  God  which  the  child  first  needs,  th^re- 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH  63 

fore,  is  God  as  loving  Father,  expecting  obedience  and 
trust  from  his  children;  God  as  inviting  Friend;  God 
as  friendly  Protector;  God  ever  near  at  hand;  God  who 
can  understand  and  sympathize  with  children  and 
enter  into  their  joys  and  sorrows;  God  as  Creator,  in 
the  sunshine  and  the  flowers;  but  above  all,  God  filling 
the  heart  with  love  and  gladness.  The  concept  which 
the  child  needs  of  Jesus  is  of  his  surpassing  goodness, 
his  unselfish  courage,  and  his  loving  service.  All  re- 
ligious teaching  which  will  lead  to  such  concepts  as 
these  is  grounding  the  child  in  knowledge  that  is  rich 
and  fruitful,  for  it  is  making  God  and  Christ  real  to 
him.  All  teaching  which  leads  to  false  concepts  is  an 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  spiritual  development. 

THE  child's   concept  OF   RELIGION 

Gradually  throughout  his  training  the  child  should 
be  forming  a  clear  concept  of  religion  and  the  part  it 
is  to  play  in  the  life.  This  cannot  come  through  any 
formal  definition,  nor  through  any  set  of  precepts. 
It  must  be  a  growth,  stimulated  by  instruction,  guided 
by  wise  counsel,  given  depth  of  meaning  through  the 
lives  of  strong  men  and  women  who  express  the  Christian 
ideal  in  their  daily  living. 

Matthew  Arnold  tells  us  that  religion  is  ^'morality 
lit  up  by  emotion."  We  turn  to  God  for  our  inspiration, 
for  the  quickening  of  our  motives,  for  fellowship,  com- 
munion and  comfort;  but  it  is  when  we  face  the  duties 
and  relationships  of  the  day's  work  and  its  play  that 
we  prove  how  close  we  have  been  to  Ck)d  and  what 
we  have  received  from  him.  As  there  can  be  no  religion 
without  God,  neither  can  there  be  reUgion  without 
morality;  that  is,  without  righteous  living. 

Connecting  religion  with  life. — One  of  the  chief  aims 


64  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

in  teaching  the  child  reKgion  should  therefore  be  to 
ground  him  in  the  understanding  that  religion  is  life. 
Probably  no  greater  defect  exists  in  our  religion  to-day 
than  our  constant  tendency  to  divorce  it  from  life. 
There  are  many  persons  who  undertake  to  divide  their 
lives  up  into  compartments,  one  for  business,  one  for 
the  relations  of  the  home,  one  for  social  matters,  one 
for  recreation  and  amusement,  and  one  for  religion. 
They  make  the  mistake  of  assuming  that  they  can 
keep  these  sections  of  the  life  separate  and  distinct 
from  each  other,  forgetting  that  Hfe  is  a  unity  and  that 
the  quality  of  each  of  its  aspects  inevitably  colors  and 
gives  tone  to  all  the  rest. 

The  child  should  be  saved  the  comfortable  assumption 
so  tragically  prevalent  that  religion  is  chiefly  a  matter 
for  Sundays;  that  it  consists  largely  in  belonging  to  the 
church  and  attending  its  services;  that  it  finds  its  com- 
plete and  most  effective  expression  in  the  observance 
of  certain  rites  and  ceremonials;  that  we  can  serve  God 
without  serving  our  fellow  men;  that  creeds  are  more 
important  than  deeds;  that  saying  *Xord,  Lord,"  can 
take  the  place  of  a  ministry  of  service. 

Religion  defined  in  noble  living. — There  is  only  one 
way  to  save  the  child  from  such  crippling  concepts  as 
these:  that  is  to  hold  up  to  him  the  challenge  of  life 
at  its  best  and  noblest,  to  show  him  the  effects  of  religion 
at  work.  What  are  the  qualities  we  most  admire  in 
others?  What  are  the  secrets  of  the  influence,  power, 
and  success  of  the  great  men  and  women  whose  names 
rule  the  pages  of  history?  What  are  the  attributes 
that  will  draw  people  to  us  as  friends  and  followers 
and  give  us  power  to  lead  them  to  better  ways?  What 
are  the  things  that  will  yield  the  most  satisfaction, 
and  that  are  most  worth  while  to  seek  and  achieve  as 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH  65 

the  outcome  of  our  own  Kves?  What  is  true  success, 
and  how  shall  we  know  when  we  have  achieved  it?  ^ 
Why  does  the  Christ,  living  his  brief,  modest,  and  un-  ,1 
eventful  life  and  dying  an  obscure  and  tragic  death,  stand  i\ 
out  as  the  supreme  model  and  example  for  men  to  pattern  ^ 
their  lives  by? 

These  are  questions  that  the  child  needs  to  have 
answered,  not  in  formal  statements,  of  course,  but  in 
terms  that  will  reach  his  understanding  and  appre- 
ciation. These  are  truths  that  he  needs  to  have  lodged 
in  his  mind,  so  that  they  may  stir  his  imagination,  fire 
his  ambition,  and  harden  his  will  for  endeavor.  These 
are  the  goals  that  the  child  needs  to  have  set  before 
him  as  the  measure  of  success  in  life,  the  pathways 
into  which  his  feet  should  be  directed. 

The  qualities  religion  puts  into  the  life. — What, 
then,  are  the  things  men  live  by?  What  are  the  great 
qualities  which  have  ruled  the  finest  lives  the  world 
has  known?  How  does  religion  express  itself  in  the 
run  of  the  day's  experience?  What  are  some  of  the 
objective  standards  by  which  religion  is  to  be  measured 
in  our  own  lives  or  in  the  lives  of  others,  in  the  lives  of 
children  or  in  the  lives  of  adults?  What  are  the  charac- 
terizing features  in  the  life  and  personality  of  Jesus? 
What  did  he  put  first  in  practice  as  well  as  in  precept? 

Joyousness.  No  word  was  oftener  on  the  lips  of 
Jesus  than  the  word  ^*joy,''  and  the  world  has  never 
seen  such  another  apostle  of  joyousness.  The  life  that 
lacks  joy  is  flat  for  him  who  lives  it,  and  exerts  little 
appeal  to  others. 

Good  will.  The  good  will  of  Jesus  embraces  all  manner 
and  conditions  of  people.  His  magnanimity  and  gen- 
erosity under  all  conditions  were  one  of  the  charms  of 
his  personality  and  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  his  strength. 


66  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

Service.  Jesus's  life  was,  if  possible,  more  wonderful 
than  his  death,  and  nothing  in  his  life  was  more  won- 
derful than  his  passion  for  serving  others.  The  men  and 
women  whom  the  world  has  remembered  and  honored 
in  aU  generations  and  among  all  peoples  are  the  men 
and  women  who  found  their  greatness  in  service. 

Loyalty.  Steadfastness  to  the  cause  he  had  espoused 
led  Jesus  to  the  cross.  Great  characters  do  not  ask 
what  road  is  easy,  but  what  way  is  right.  Where  duty 
leads,  the  strong  do  not  falter  nor  fail,  cost  what  it 
may.  They  see  their  task  through  to  the  end,  though 
it  mean  that  they  die. 

Sympathy.  Jesus  always  understood.  His  heart  had 
eyes  to  see  another's  need.  His  love  was  as  broad  as 
the  hunger  of  the  human  heart  for  comradeship.  We 
are  never  so  much  our  best  selves  as  when  self  is  for- 
gotten, and  we  enter  into  the  joys  or  the  sorrows  of 
one  who  needs  us. 

Purity.  Sin  has  its  price  for  all  it  gives  us.  We 
cannot  stain  our  souls  and  find  them  white  again. 
We  later  reap  whatever  now  we  sow.  Jesus's  life  of 
righteousness,  Kved  amid  temptations  such  as  we  all 
meet,  is  a  challenge  to  every  man  who  would  be  the 
captain  of  his  own  soul. 

Sincerity.  No  man  ever  doubted  that  Jesus  meant 
what  he  said.  No  man  ever  accused  him  of  acting  a 
part.  His  enemies,  even,  never  found  him  misrepre- 
senting or  speaking  other  than  the  truth.  All  truly 
fine  characters  can  be  trusted  for  utter  sincerity  of 
word,  of  purpose,  and  of  deed. 

Courage.  Jesus  was  never  more  sublime  than  under 
conditions  that  test  men's  courage.  Did  he  face  hostile 
mob  and  servile  judge?  did  he  find  himself  misunder- 
stood and  deserted  by  those  who  had  been  his  friends? 


9 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH  67 

must  he  bid  his  disciples  a  last  farewell?  did  he  see  the 
shadow  of  the  cross  over  his  pathway? — yet  he  never 
faltered.    His  courage  stood  all  tests. 

Vision.  A  distinguishing  quality  of  the  great  is  their 
power  to  put  first  things  first.  Jesus  possessed  a  fine 
sense  of  values.  He  willingly  sold  all  he  had  that  he 
might  buy  the  pearl  of  great  price.  His  temptations 
to  follow  after  lesser  values  left  him  unscathed,  and 
he  refused  to  command  the  stones  to  be  made  bread, 
or  to  do  aught  else  that  would  turn  him  from  his  mission. 

God-Consciousness.  Those  who  have  most  left  their 
impress  upon  the  world  and  the  hearts  of  men  have 
not  worked  through  their  own  power  alone.  They  have 
known  how  to  link  their  lives  to  the  infinite  Source  of 
power;  the  way  has  been  open  between  their  lives  and 
God.  Jesus  never  for  a  moment  doubted  that  all  the 
resources  of  God  were  at  his  command,  hence  he  had 
but  to  reach  out  and  they  were  his. 

It  is  evident,  as  before  stated,  that  this  functional 
definition  of  religion,  this  great  program  of  living,  can- 
not be  thrust  on  the  child  all  at  once — cannot  be  thrust 
on  him  at  all.  But  day  after  day  and  year  after  year 
throughout  the  period  of  his  training  the  conviction 
should  be  taking  shape  in  the  child's  mind  that  these 
are  the  real  things  of  life,  the  truest  measure  of  success- 
ful living,  the  highest  goals  for  which  men  can  strive. 
The  definition  of  religion  which  he  forms  from  his 
instruction  should  be  broad  enough  to  include  these 
values  and  such  others  of  similar  kind  as  Christianity 
at  its  best  demands. 

KNOWLEDGE  OF   THE   BIBLE 

A  knowledge  of  the  essential  parts  of  the  Bible  is 


68  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

indispensable  to  Christian  culture.  The  Bible  is  the 
storehouse  of  spiritual  wisdom  of  the  ages,  the  match- 
less textbook  of  religion.  Great  men  and  women  of  all 
generations  testify  to  its  power  as  a  source  of  inspira- 
tion and  guidance.  To  be  ignorant  of  its  fundamental 
spiritual  truths  is  to  lack  one  of  the  chiefest  instru- 
ments of  religious  growth  and  development.  Not  to 
know  its  teachings  is  to  miss  the  strongest  and  best 
foundation  that  has  ever  been  laid  for  fruitful  and 
happy  living.  To  lose  a  knowledge  of  the  Bible  out  of 
our  lives  is  to  deprive  ourselves  of  the  ethical  and  re- 
ligious help  needed  to  redeem  society  and  bring  the 
individual  to  his  rightful  destiny.  Yet  this  generation 
is  confronted  by  a  widespread  and  universal  ignorance 
of  the  Bible,  even  among  the  adherents  of  the  churches. 
Making  the  Bible  useful  to  the  child. — The  child 
cannot  be  taught  all  of  the  Bible  as  a  child.  Indeed, 
parts  of  it  dealing  with  the  ideals  and  practices  of 
peoples  and  times  whose  primitive  standards  were  far 
below  those  of  our  own  times  are  wholly  unsuited  to 
the  mind  of  childhood,  and  should  be  left  until  ma- 
turity has  given  the  mental  perspective  by  which  to 
interpret  them.  Other  parts  of  the  Bible  prove  dry  and 
uninteresting  to  children,  and  are  of  no  immediate 
spiritual  significance  to  them.  Still  other  parts,  which 
later  will  be  full  of  precious  meaning,  are  beyond  the 
grasp  or  need  of  the  child  in  his  early  years  and  should 
be  left  for  a  later  period.  But  with  all  these  subtrac- 
tions there  still  remains  a  rich  storehouse  of  biblical 
material  suited  for  all  ages  from  earliest  childhood  to 
maturity.  This  material  should  be  assembled  and 
arranged  in  a  children's  Bible.  This  abridged  Bible 
should  then  be  made  a  part  of  the  mental  and  spiritual 
possession  of  every  child* 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH  69 

The  knowledge  of  the  Bible  which  will  be  of  most 
worth  to  the  child  must  be  a  functioning  knowledge; 
a  knowledge  that  can  and  will  be  put  at  work  in  the 
child's  thought,  helping  him  form  his  judgments  of 
right  and  wrong  and  arrive  at  a  true  sense  of  moral 
values;  a  knowledge  that  stirs  the  souFs  response  to 
the  appeal  God  makes  to  the  life;  a  knowledge  that 
daily  serves  as  a  guide  to  action  amid  the  perplexities 
and  temptations  that  are  met;  a  knowledge  that  lives 
and  grows  as  the  years  pass  by,  constantly  revealing 
deeper  meanings  and  more  significant  truths. 

The  test  of  useful  knowledge. — This  is  all  to  say 
that  the  knowledge  of  the  Bible  given  the  child  must 
in  no  sense  be  a  merely  formal  knowledge,  a  knowledge 
of  so  many  curious  or  even  interesting  facts  separated 
from  their  vital  meaning  and  application.  It  must  not 
consist  of  truths  which  for  the  most  part  do  not  influence 
thought  and  action.  Not  how  many  facts  are  lodged 
in  the  mind,  nor  how  many  have  passed  through  the 
mind  and  been  forgotten,  but  how  many  truths  are 
daily  being  built  into  character — this  measures  the 
value  of  the  knowledge  we  teach  the  child  from  the 
Bible. 

KNOWLEDGE  ABOUT  THE   CHURCH 

The  church  represents  religion  organized.  Because 
of  our  social  impulses  we  need  to  worship  together  in 
groups.  Many  reHgious  activities,  such  as  education, 
evangelism,  missionary  enterprises,  and  reforms,  can  be 
successfully  carried  out  only  by  joint  action;  hence  we 
have  the  church,  a  means  of  religious  culture,  and  the 
instrument  of  religious  service.  Few  there  are  who,  out- 
side the  church,  maintain  their  own  religious  experience 
or  carry  the  ministry  of  religious  service  to  others. 


70  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

A  knowledge  of  the  church  is  therefore  an  essential 
part  of  the  child's  religious  education. 

What  the  child  needs  to  know  about  the  church. 
— This  does  not  mean  that  the  child  needs  to  know  the 
technical  and  detailed  history  of  the  Christian  Church; 
this  may  come  later.  Nor  does  it  mean  that  the  child 
needs  to  know  the  different  theological  controversies 
through  which  the  church  has  passed  and  the  creeds 
that  have  resulted;  this  also  may  come  later.  What 
the  child  needs  first  to  know  is  that  the  church  is  the 
instrument  of  religion,  the  home  of  religious  people; 
that  the  Christian  Church  began  with  the  followers 
of  Jesus,  and  that  it  has  existed  ever  since;  that  it  has 
done  and  is  doing  much  good  in  the  world;  that  the 
best  and  noblest  men  and  women  of  each  generation 
work  with  and  through  the  church;  that  the  church 
is  worthy  of  our  deepest  love  and  appreciation,  and 
that  it  should  command  our  fullest  loyalty  and 
support. 

Besides  this  rather  general  knowledge  of  the  church, 
the  child  should  know  the  organization  and  workings 
of  the  present-day  church.  He  should  come  to  know 
as  much  of  its  program,  plans,  and  ideals  as  his  age 
and  understanding  will  permit. 

Even  the  younger  children  are  able  to  understand 
and  sympathize  with  the  missionary  work  of  the  church, 
both  in  home  and  in  foreign  lands.  Missionary  instruc- 
tion offers  a  valuable  opportunity  to  quicken  the  re- 
ligious imagination  and  broaden  the  social  interests. 
Lessons  showing  the  church  at  work  in  missionary  fields 
should  therefore  be  freely  brought  to  the  child. 

Knowledge  of  the  church's  achievements. — The 
part  the  church  has  taken  and  is  to-day  taking  in  ad- 
vancing the  cause  of  education  will  appeal  to  the  child's 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH         71 

admiration  and  respect.  A  knowledge  of  its  philan- 
thropies will  make  a  good  foundation  for  the  later 
loyalties  to  be  developed  toward  the  church  as  an 
institution.  The  important  influence  of  the  church  in 
furthering  moral  reforms  and  social  progress  is  well 
within  the  appreciation  of  adolescents,  and  should  be 
brought  to  their  recognition. 

Especially  should  children  know  the  activities  of 
their  own  local  church;  they  should  learn  of  its  different 
organizations  and  of  the  work  each  is  doing;  they  should 
know  its  financial  program — where  the  money  comes 
from  and  the  uses  to  which  it  is  put;  they  should  know 
its  plans  ahead  in  so  far  as  their  participation  can  be 
used  in  carrying  out  its  activities.  All  these  lines  of 
information  are  necessary  to  the  child  in  order  that 
his  interest  and  loyalty  may  have  an  intelligent  and 
enduring  basis. 

Knowledge  of  one's  own  church. — The  first  knowl- 
edge of  the  church  as  an  institution  given  the  child 
should  be  of  the  church  as  a  whole,  and  should  have  no 
denominational  bias.  We  should  first  aim  to  make 
out  of  our  children  Christians,  and  only  later  to  make 
out  of  them  Methodists,  Presbyterians,  Baptists,  or 
Congrega  tionahs  ts . 

There  comes  a  time,  however,  when  the  child  should 
become  informed  concerning  his  own  particular  church 
or  denomination.  He  should  learn  of  its  history,  its 
achievements,  its  creeds,  its  plan  of  organization  and 
polity.  This  is  not  with  the  purpose  of  cultivating  a 
narrow  sectarianism,  but  in  the  interests  of  a  self- 
respecting  intelligence  concerning  the  particular  branch 
of  the  church  which  is  one's  spiritual  home.  That  the 
great  mass  of  our  people  to-day  possess  any  reasonable 
fund  of  knowledge  about  the  Christian  Church  or  their 


72  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

own  denomination  may  well  be  doubted.  This  is  a  serious 
fault  in  religious  education. 

KNOWLEDGE  OF  RELIGIOUS  MUSIC  AND  ART 

Not  all  of  the  child^s  religious  impressions  come 
through  direct  instruction  in  the  facts  and  precepts 
of  religion.  Religious  feeHng  and  comprehension  of 
the  deeper  meanings  and  values  often  best  spring  from 
their  expression  in  music  and  art. 

Music  essential  to  religion. — No  other  form  of  ex- 
pression can  take  the  place  of  music  in  creating  a  spirit 
of  reverence  and  devotion,  or  in  inspiring  religious 
feeling.  So  closely  is  music  interwoven  with  religion 
that  no  small  part  of  the  world's  greatest  musical  master- 
pieces have  a  reHgious  motive  as  their  theme.  Even 
among  primitive  peoples  music  is  an  important  feature 
of  religious  ceremonials.  The  Christian  Church  has  a 
large  and  growing  body  of  inspiring  hymnology. 

The  child  needs  to  be  led  into  a  knowledge  of  re- 
ligious music.  He  needs  this  knowledge  as  a  stimulus 
and  a  means  of  expression  for  his  own  spiritual  Kfe. 
But  he  also  needs  it  in  order  to  take  part  in  the  exer- 
cises of  his  church  and  its  organizations.  He  needs  it 
in  order  to  enjoy  music  and  do  his  part  in  producing 
it  in  the  home  and  the  school.  This  means  that  chil- 
dren should  come  to  know  the  hymnology  of  the  church; 
they  should  know  the  words  and  the  music  of  such 
worthy  and  inspiring  hymns  as  are  adapted  to  their 
age  and  understanding.  They  should  finally,  during 
the  course  of  their  development  to  adulthood,  learn 
to  know  and  enjoy  the  great  religious  oratorios  and 
other  forms  of  musical  expression. 

The  place  of  art  in  religion. — Art,  like  music,  owes 
much  of  its  finest  form  and  development  to  religion. 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH  73 

Religious  hope,  aspiration,  and  devotion  have  always 
sought  expression  in  pictorial  or  plastic  art  and  in 
noble  architecture.  We  owe  it  to  our  children  to  put 
them  in  possession  of  this  rich  spiritual  heritage.  They 
should  know  and  love  the  great  masterpieces  of  paint- 
ing dealing  with  rehgious  themes.  They  should  not 
only  have  these  as  a  part  of  their  instruction  in  the 
church  school  classes,  but  they  should  also  have  them 
in  their  homes  and  in  their  schools,  and  see  them  in 
public  art  galleries  and  in  other  public  buildings  suit- 
able for  their  display. 

Wherever  possible  the  church  building  should  in  its 
architecture  express  in  a  worthy  way  the  religious  ideals 
of  its  members.  It  should  first  of  all  be  adapted  to 
the  uses  expected  of  it.  It  should  be  beautiful  in  con- 
ception and  execution,  and  should  allow  no  unlovely 
or  unworthy  elements  to  enter  into  its  structure. 

We  should  teach  our  children  something  of  the  wonder 
and  beauty  of  religious  architecture  as  represented  in 
the  great  cathedrals  and  churches  of  all  lands,  and 
lead  them  to  see  in  these  creations  the  desire  and  attempt 
of  great  souls  to  express  their  appreciation  for  God's 
goodness  to  men. 

1.  It  will  help  you  to  understand  the  child's  idea  of  God 
if  you  will  think  back  to  your  own  childhood  and  answer 
the  following  questions:  Just  who  and  what  was  God  to 
you?  Was  he  near  by  or  far  off?  When  you  prayed,  to 
what  kind  of  a  Being  was  the  prayer  addressed  ?  Did  Jesus 
seem  more  near  and  friendly  to  you  than  God  ?  What  were 
(or  are)  the  most  outstanding  attributes  of  God's  nature 
to  you?  Did  you  ever  have  any  disturbing  ideas  about 
God? 

2.  Now,  suppose  you  attempt  to  answer  these  same 
questions  about  the  children  in  yoiir  class.    You  will  have 


74  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

to  remember  that  the  child  may  not  be  able  to  explain  just 
what  God  seems  to  him — perhaps  you  can  hardly  do  this 
yourself.  Further,  a  child  may  often  have  some  notion 
that  what  he  feels  is  queer  or  would  not  be  well  received, 
and  hence  he  will  not  fully  express  it  to  others. 

3.  Just  what  does  religion  seem  to  you  to  be?  Is  it 
largely  a  way  of  living  or  a  set  of  conventions  and  re- 
straints? How  did  religion  appeal  to  you  in  your  child- 
hood? Are  you  able  to  tell  how  the  children  of  your  class 
understand  religion?  What  definite  help  are  you  giving 
them  toward  broadening  and  enriching  their  concept  of  re- 
ligion? Are  you  leading  them  to  see  that  religion  is  a  way 
of  living  the  day's  life  ? 

4.  To  what  extent  do  you  feel  that  you  really  know  the 
Bible?  Could  you  give  a  sketch  of  twenty  of  its  leading 
characters,  describing  the  strengths  and  weaknesses  of 
character  of  each?  Could  you  describe  the  great  biblical 
events,  and  draw  the  lessons  they  teach  ?  Could  you  com- 
pare and  characterize  the  Hebrew  religion  and  the  religion 
of  Jesus  ?  Are  the  pupils  in  your  class  going  to  be  able  from 
the  work  of  the  church  school  to  answer  favorably  these 
and  similar  questions? 

5.  We  expect  good  citizens  to  know  something  of  the 
history  of  their  country  and  their  commonwealth.  Is  it  too 
much  to  ask  members  of  the  Christian  Church  to  have  the 
same  information  about  the  church?  Could  you  pass  a 
fair  examination  on  the  history  and  achievements  of  the 
church  ?  Of  your  own  particular  church  ?  Are  the  children 
of  your  church  school  growing  in  this  knowledge?  The 
children  of  your  class  ? 

6.  To  what  extent  do  the  children  of  your  class  know  the 
hymns  of  the  church?  Is  care  taken  to  give  them  such 
hymns  as  are  suited  to  their  age?  Are  worthy  hymns 
taught  them,  or  the  silly  rimes  foimd  in  many  church  song 
books?  (This  does  not  mean  that  children  should  be 
taught  music  beyond  their  comprehension;  there  is  much 
good  music  suited  to  different  ages.)     Are  your  children 


KNOWLEDGE  OF  MOST  WORTH  75 

having  an  opporttinity  to  know  the  great  religious  pic- 
tures ?  Religious  architecture  ?  (Here  also  the  work  must 
be  adapted  to  the  age.) 

FOR  FURTHER  READING 

Coe,  Education  in  Religion  and  Morals. 
Brown,  The  Modem  Man's  Religion,  chapter  on  "The 
Use  of  the  Bible." 

Fosdick,  The  Manhood  of  the  Master. 
Weld  and  Conant,  Songs  for  Little  People. 
Bailey,  The  Gospel  in  Art. 


CHAPTER  V 
RELIGIOUS  ATTITUDES  TO  BE  CULTIVATED 

Lefe  never  stands  still;  especially  does  the  life  of 
the  child  never  stand  still.  It  is  always  advancing, 
changing,  reconstructing.  Starting  with  an  unripe 
brain,  and  with  no  fund  of  knowledge  or  expression, 
the  child  in  the  first  few  years  of  his  life  makes  aston- 
ishing progress.  By  the  time  he  is  three  years  old  he 
has  learned  to  understand  and  speak  a  difficult  language. 
He  knows  the  names  and  uses  of  hundreds  of  objects 
about  him.  He  has  acquaintance  with  a  considerable 
number  of  people,  and  has  learned  to  adapt  himself 
to  their  ways.  He  has  gained  much  information  about 
every  phase  of  his  environment  which  directly  touches 
his  life — his  mastery  of  knowledge  has  grown  apace, 
without  rest  or  pause. 

Nor  does  the  development  of  what  we  have  called 
attitudes  lag  behind.  Parallel  with  growth  in  the  child's 
knowledge,  his  interests  are  taking  root;  his  ideals  are 
shaping;  his  standards  are  developing;  his  enthusiasms 
are  kindling;  his  loyalties  are  being  grounded.  These 
changes  go  on  whether  we  will  or  not — just  because 
life  and  growth  can  not  be  stopped.  The  great  ques- 
tion that  confronts  teacher  and  parent  is  whether 
through  guidance,  that  is  through  education,  we  shall 
be  able  to  say  what  attitudes  shall  arise  and  what  motives 
shall  come  to  rule,  rather  than  to  leave  this  all-im- 
portant matter  to  chance  or  to  influence  hostile  to  the 
child's  welfare. 

The  teacher  of  religion,  like  all  other  teachers,  must 

76 


ATTITUDES  TO  BE  CULTIVATED  77 

meet  two  distinct  though  related  problems  in  the  cul- 
tivating of  attitudes.     These  are: 

1.  The  creation  of  an  immediate  or  direct  set  of  atti- 
tudes toward  the  school  and  its  work.  This  is  needed  to 
motivate  effort  and  insure  right  impressions. 

2.  Xh§  development  of  a  far-reaching  set  of  attitudes 
that  will  carry  out  from  the  classroom  into  the  present 
and  future  life  of  the  pupil.  This  is  needed  as  a  guide 
and  stimulus  to  spiritual  growth,  and  as  a  foundation 
for  character. 

ATTITUDES  TOWARD  THE   SCHOOL  AND  ITS  WORK 

The  older  view  of  education  sought  to  drive  the 
child  to  effort  and  secure  results  through  pain  and  com- 
pulsion. It  was  believed  that  the  pathway  to  learning 
must  of  necessity  be  dreary  and  strewn  with  hard- 
ships, if,  indeed,  not  freely  watered  with  the  tears  of 
childhood. 

Now  we  know  better.  A  knowledge  of  child  psy- 
chology and  a  more  sympathetic  insight  into  child 
nature  have  shown  us  that  instead  of  external  com- 
pulsion we  must  get  hold  of  the  inner  springs  of  action. 
No  mind  can  exert  its  full  power  unless  the  driving 
force  comes  from  within.  The  capacities  implanted 
in  the  child  at  his  birth  do  not  reach  full  fruition  except 
when  freely  and  gladly  used  because  their  use  is  a 
pleasure  and  satisfaction.  If  worthy  results  are  to  be 
secured,  the  whole  self  must  be  called  into  action  under 
the  stimulus  of  willingness,  desire,  and  complete  assent 
of  the  inner  self  to  the  tasks  imposed.  There  must 
be  no  lagging,  nor  holding  back,  nor  partial  use  of 
powers. 

ReHgious  education  is,  therefore,  not  simply  a  question 


78  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

of  getting  our  children  into  the  church  schools.  That 
is  easy.  Parents  who  themselves  do  not  attend  feel 
that  they  have  more  fully  done  their  duty  by  their 
children  if  they  send  them  to  the  Sunday  school.  After 
securing  the  attendance  of  the  children  the  great  ques- 
tion still  remains— that  of  the  response,  their  attitude 
toward  the  activities  of  the  school,  the  completeness 
with  which  they  give  themselves  to  its  work. 

A  friend  who  is  a  State  inspector  of  pubhc  schools 
tells  me  that  the  first  thing  he  looks  for  when  he  visits 
a  school  is  the  school  spirit,  the  attitude  of  the  pupils 
toward  their  teachers  and  the  work  of  the  school.  If 
this  is  good,  there  is  a  foundation  upon  which  to  build 
fruitful  work;  if  the  spirit  is  bad,  there  is  no  possi- 
bility that  the  work  of  the  school  can  be  up  to  standard. 
For  it  is  out  of  the  schoolroom  spirit,  the  classroom 
attitudes,  that  the  effort  necessary  to  growth  and 
achievement  must  come. 

The  spirit  of  the  classroom. — Do  the  children  enjoy 
the  lesson  hour?  The  first  of  the  motivating  condi- 
tions to  seek  for  our  classroom  is  a  prevailing  attitude 
of  happiness,  good  cheer,  enjoyment.  These  are  the 
natural  attributes  and  attitudes  of  childhood.  Un- 
happiness  is  an  abnormal  state  for  the  child.  The 
child's  nature  unfolds  and  his  mind  expands  normally 
only  when  in  an  atmosphere  of  sympathy,  kindness, 
and  good  feeling.  Our  pupils  must  enjoy  what  they 
are  doing,  if  they  are  to  give  themselves  whole-heartedly 
to  it.  If  loyalty  to  the  school  and  the  church  is  to 
result,  they  must  not  feel  that  the  Sunday  school  hour 
is  a  drag  and  a  bore.  If  such  is  the  case,  they  cannot 
be  expected  to  carry  away  lasting  impressions  for  good. 
They  must  not  look  upon  attendance  as  an  imposition, 
nor  wait  with  eager  impatience  for  the  closing  gong. 


ATTITUDES  TO  BE  CULTIVATED  79 

While  loyalty  should  be  permeated  by  a  sense  of  duty 
and  obligation,  and  even  of  self-sacrifice,  it  cannot 
rest  on  this  alone.  Most  children  and  youth  are  loyal 
to  their  homes;  but  this  loyalty  rests  chiefly  on  a  senti- 
ment formed  from  day  to  day  and  year  to  year  out 
of  the  satisfying  experiences  connected  with  the  love, 
care,  protection,  and  associations  of  the  home.  Let 
these  happy,  satisfying  home  experiences  be  lacking, 
and  loyalty  to  the  home  fails  or  loses  its  fine  quality. 

In  similar  way,  if  the  experiences  in  the  Sunday 
school  and  the  church  continuously  yield  satisfaction, 
enjoyment,  and  good  feehng,  the  child's  loyalty  and 
devotion  are  assured;  if,  on  the  other  hand,  these  ex- 
periences come  to  be  associated  with  dislike,  reluctance, 
and  aversion,  loyalty  is  in  danger  of  breaking  under 
the  strain. 

The  response  of  interest. — Are  the  children  inter- 
ested? While,  as  we  have  seen,  the  atmosphere  or  spirit 
of  the  classroom  suppKes  the  condition  necessary  to 
successful  work,  interest  supplies  the  motive  force. 
For  interest  is  the  mainspring  of  action.  A  child  may 
poUtely  listen,  or  from  a  sense  of  courtesy  or  good  will 
sit  quietly  passive  and  not  disturb  others,  but  this  does 
not  meet  the  requirement.  His  thought,  interest,  and 
enthusiasm  must  be  centered  on  the  matter  in  hand. 
He  must  withdraw  his  attention  from  all  wandering 
thoughts,  passing  fancies,  distracting  surroundings,  and 
concentrate  upon  the  lesson  itself.  There  is  no  sub- 
stitute for  this.  There  is  no  possibility  of  making 
lasting  impressions  on  a  mind  with  its  energies  dispersed 
through  lack  of  attention.  And  there  is  no  possibility 
of  securing  fruitful  attention  without  interest. 

Interest  therefore  becomes  a  primary  consideration  in 
our  teaching  of  reKgion.    The  teacher  must  constantly 


8o  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

ask  himself:  *  What  is  the  state  of  my  pupils'  interest? 
How  completely  am  I  commanding  their  enthusiasm? 
Suppose  I  were  to  grade  them  on  a  scale  with  com- 
plete-indifference  as  the  interest  zero,  and  with  the 
^exploding-poinV -of -enthusiasm  as  the  highest  interest 
mark,  where  would  the  score  mark  of  my  class  stand? 
And  if  I  cannot  reasonably  hope  to  keep  my  class  at 
the  high-water  mark  of  interest  at  all  times,  what 
shall  I  call  an  attainable  standard?  If  one  hundred 
per  cent  is  to  represent  the  supreme  achievement  of 
interest,  shall  I  be  satisfied  with  fifty  per  cent,  with 
twenty-five  per  cent,  or  with  complete  indifference? 
If  the  minds  of  my  pupils  can  receive  and  retain  lasting 
impressions  only  under  the  stimulus  of  the  higher 
range  of  interest,  in  how  far  am  I  now  making  lasting 
impressions  on  my  class?  In  short,  is  the  interest  attitude 
of  my  class  as  good  as  I  can  make  it?^^ 

The  sense  of  victory. — Is  there  a  feeling  of  confidence 
and  mastery?  Do  the  children  understand  what  they 
are  asked  to  learn?  Without  this  the  attitude  toward 
the  class  hour  cannot  be  good,  for  the  mind  is  always 
in  at  ease  when  forced  to  work  upon  matter  it  cannot 
grasp  nor  assimilate.  Nor  is  it  possible  to  secure  full 
effort  without  a  reasonable  degree  of  mastery.  The 
feeling  of  confidence  and  assurance  that  comes  from 
successful  achievement  increases  the  amount  of  power 
available.  The  victorious  army  or  the  winning  foot- 
ball team  is  always  more  formidable  than  the  same 
organization  when  oppressed  and  disheartened  by  con- 
tinued defeat. 

If  the  task  is  interesting,  children  do  not  ask  that 
it  shall  be  easy.  Once  catch  their  enthusiasm  and  they 
will  exert  their  powers  to  the  full,  and  take  joy  in  the 
effort.    But  the  effort  must  be  accompanied  by  a  sense 


ATTITUDES  TO  BE  CULTIVATED  8i 

of  victory  and  achievement.  There  must  always  be 
immediately  ahead  the  possibility  of  winning  over 
the  difficulties  of  their  lessons.  Except  in  rare  moments 
of  emotional  exaltation  the  most  heroic  of  us  are  not 
capable  of  hurling  our  best  strength  against  obstacles 
upon  whose  resistance  we  make  no  impression.  And 
the  child  possesses  almost  none  of  this  quality.  With- 
out a  measurable  degree  of  success  in  what  he  attempts 
to  learn  his  morale  suffers,  enthusiasm  fails,  and  dis- 
couragement creeps  in  to  sap  his  powers. 

Kept  in  the  presence  of  mental  tasks  he  cannot 
master  nor  understand,  the  child  will  soon  lose  interest 
and  anticipation  in  his  work.  Without  mastery  intel- 
lectual defeat  comes  to  be  accepted  and  expected,  and 
the  child  forms  the  fatal  habit  of  submission  and  giving 
up.  Because  he  expects  defeat  from  the  lesson  before 
him,  the  learner  is  aheady  defeated;  because  he  has 
not  learned  to  look  for  victory  in  his  study,  he  will 
never  find  it. 

Preventing  the  habit  of  defeat. — This  is  all  to  say 
that  in  teaching  the  child  religion  we  must  not  con- 
stantly confront  him  with  matter  that  is  beyond  his 
grasp  and  understanding.  That  we  are  doing  this  in 
some  of  our  lesson  systems  there  can  be  no  doubt.  The 
result  is  seen  in  the  child's  hazy  and  indefinite  ideas 
about  religion;  in  a  later  astonishing  lack  of  interest 
in  the  problems  of  religion  on  the  part  of  adults;  in  the 
child's  unwillingness  to  undertake  the  study  of  his 
lessons  for  the  Sunday  school;  in  the  fact  that  to  many 
children  the  Sunday  school  lesson  hour  is  a  task  and 
a  bore;  and  in  the  fact  that  the  Sunday  school  does  not 
in  a  large  degree  continue  to  hold  the  loyalty  of  its 
members  after  they  have  reached  the  age  of  deciding 
for  themselves  whether  they  will  attend.    Fundamental 


^  -3 

82  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

to  all  sticcessful  classroom  results  with  children  are  en- 
joyment, interest  J  and  mastery.  How  these  are  to  be 
secured  will  be  developed  further  as  the  text  proceeds. 

ATTITUDES  THAT  CARRY  INTO  LIFE  BEYOND 
THE  SCHOOL 

The  great  problem  of  every  teacher  is  to  make  sure 
that  the  effects  of  his  instruction  reach  beyond  the  class- 
room. While  the  iramediate  attitudes  of  the  classroom 
are  the  first  great  care,  they  are  but  the  beginning. 
Growing  out  of  the  work  of  the  church  school  must 
be  a  more  permanent  set  of  attitudes  that  underlie 
Hfe  itself,  give  foundation  to  character,  and  in  large 
degree  determine  the  trend  and  outcome  of  achieve- 
ment. The  cultivation  of  moral  and  religious  attitudes 
is  probably  the  most  important  aim  for  the  Sunday  school. 
As  aheady  explained,  the  word  ^^attitudes"  is  used  to 
cover  a  considerable  number  of  qualities  and  attributes. 

A  continuing  interest  in  the  Bible  and  religion. — 
On  the  whole,  people  do  not  concern  themselves 
about  what  they  are  not  interested  in.  They  do  not 
read  the  books,  study  the  pictures,  go  to  hear  the  speak- 
ers, or  busy  themselves  with  problems  to  which  their 
interest  does  not  directly  and  immediately  lead  them. 
A  fine  sense  of  duty  and  obligation  is  all  very  well, 
but  it  never  can  take  the  place  of  interest  as  a  dynamic 
force  in  life. 

The  number  of  Bibles  sold  every  year  would  lead 
one  to  suppose  that  our  people  are  great  students  of 
the  Scriptures.  Yet  the  almost  universal  ignorance 
of  the  Bible  proves  that  it  is  one  thing  to  own  a  Bible, 
and  quite  another  thing  to  read  it.  We  may  buy  the 
Bible  because  other  people  own  Bibles,  because  we 
believe  in  its  principles,  and  because  it  seems  altogether 


ATTITUDES  TO  BE  CULTIVATED  83 

desirable  to  have  the  Bible  among  our  collection  of 
books.  But  the  extent  to  which  we  read  the  Bible 
depends  on  our  interest  in  it  and  the  truths  with  which 
it  deals. 

Nor  should  we  forget  that,  while  the  United  States 
is  rightly  counted  as  one  of  the  great  Christian  nations, 
only  about  two  out  of  five  of  our  people  are  members 
of  Christian  churches.  It  is  true  that  this  proportion 
would  be  considerably  increased  if  all  churches  ad- 
mitted the  younger  children  to  membership;  but  even 
making  allowance  for  this  fact,  it  is  evident  that  a 
great  task  still  confronts  the  church  in  interesting  our 
own  millions  in  religion  in  such  a  way  that  they  shall 
take  part  in  its  organized  activities. 

Let  each  teacher  of  religion  therefore  ask  himself: 
**To  what  extent  am  I  grounding  in  my  pupils  a  per- 
manent and  continuing  interest  in  the  Bible  and  in  the 
Christian  religion?  Growing  out  of  lessons  I  teach 
these  children  are  they  coming  to  like  the  Bible?  will 
they  want  to  know  more  about  it?  will  they  turn  to  it 
naturally  as  a  matter  of  course  because  they  have  found 
it  interesting  and  helpful?  will  they  care  enough  for  it 
through  the  years  to  search  for  its  deeper  meanings 
and  for  its  hidden  beauties?  and  because  of  this  will 
they  build  the  strength  and  inspiration  of  the  Bible 
increasingly  into  their  Kves?" 

And,  further:  "Are  my  pupils  developing  a  growing 
mterest  in  religion?  Do  they  increasingly  find  it  attrac- 
tive and  inspiring,  or  is  religion  to  them  chiefly  a  set 
of  restraints  and  prohibitions?  Do  they  look  upon 
religion  as  a  means  to  a  happier  and  fuller  life,  or  as  a 
limitation  and  check  upon  life.  Is  religion  being  re- 
vealed to  them  as  the  pearl  of  great  price,  or  does  it 
possess  but  Uttle  value  in  their  standard  of  what  is 


84  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

worth  while?"  These  questions  are  of  supreme  signifi- 
cance, for  in  their  right  answers  are  the  very  issues 
of  spiritual  life  for  those  we  teach. 

Spiritual  responsiveness. — The  teacher  must  accept 
responsibility  for  the  spiritual  growth  as  well  as  the 
intellectual  training  of  his  pupils.  There  is  no  escape 
from  this.  We  must  be  satisfied  with  nothing  less  than 
a  constantly  increasing  consciousness  of  God's  presence 
and  reality  in  the  lives  of  those  we  teach. 

As  the  child's  knowledge  grows  and  his  concept  of 
God  develops,  this  should  naturally  and  inevitably 
lead  to  an  increasing  warmth  of  attitude  toward  God 
and  a  tendency  to  turn  to  him  constantly  for  guidance, 
strength,  comradeship,  and  forgiveness.  Indeed,  the 
cultivation  of  this  trend  of  the  life  toward  God  is  the 
supreme  aim  in  our  religious  leadership  of  children. 
Without  this  result,  whatever  may  have  been  the  facts 
learned  or  the  knowledge  gleaned,  there  has  been  no 
worthy  progress  made  in  spiritual  growth  and  develop- 
ment. 

The  evolution  of  spiritual  responsiveness. — The 
realization  of  this  new  spiritual  consciousness  in  the 
child's  life  may  not  involve  any  special  nor  abrupt 
upheaval.  If  the  child  is  wisely  led,  and  if  he  develops 
normally  in  his  religion,  it  almost  certainly  wiU  not. 
Countless  thousands  of  those  who  are  living  lives  very 
full  of  spiritual  values  have  come  into  the  rich  con- 
sciousness of  divine  relationship  so  gradually  that  the 
separate  steps  cannot  be  distinguished.  "First  the 
blade,  then  the  ear,  and  then  the  full  grain  in  the  ear" 
is  the  natural  law  of  spiritual  growth. 

The  bearing  of  this  truth  upon  our  teaching  is  that 
we  must  seek  for  the  unfolding  of  the  child's  spiritual 
nature  and  for  the  turning  of  his  thought  and  affec- 


ATTITUDES  TO  BE  CULTIVATED  85 

tions  toward  God  from  the  first.  We  must  not  point 
to  some  distant  day  ahead  when  the  child  will  ^'accept 
Jesus"  or  become  "a  child  of  God."  We  must  our- 
selves think  of  the  child,  and  lead  the  child  to  think 
of  himself,  as  a  member  of  God's  family. 

This  does  not  mean  that  the  child,  as  he  grows  from 
childhood  into  youth  and  adulthood,  will  not  need  to 
make  a  personal  and  definite  decision  to  give  God  and 
the  Christ  first  place  in  his  Hfe;  he  will  need  to  do  cms 
not  once,  but  many  times.  It  only  means  that  from 
his  earliest  years  the  child  is  to  be  made  to  feel  that  he 
belongs  to  God,  and  should  turn  to  him  as  Father  and 
Friend.  Day  by  day  and  week  by  week  the  child  should 
be  growing  more  vitally  conscious  of  God's  place  in 
his  life,  and  more  responsive  to  this  relationship.  Only 
by  this  steady  and  continuous  process  of  growth  will 
the  spiritual  nature  take  on  the  depth  and  quality 
which  the  Christian  ideal  sets  for  its  attainment. 

Ideals  and  ambitions. — In  order  that  religion  may 
be  a  helpful  reality  to  the  child  it  must  extend  to  his 
developing  ideals  and  ambitions.  For  even  children 
have  ideals  and  ambitions,  however  crude  they  may 
be,  or  however  much  they  may  lack  the  serious 
and  practical  nature  they  later  take  on.  Probably 
no  child  reaches  his  teens  without  having  many  times 
secretly  determined  that  he  would  do  this  or  become 
that,  which  he  has  admired  in  some  hero  of  his  own 
choosing  from  actual  acquaintance  or  from  books  or 
stories.  There  is  no  normal  child  but  who  has  his 
own  notions  of  greatness  and  importance,  of  success 
and  fame,  and  who  wishes  and  longs  for  certain  things 
ahead  upon  which  he  has  set  his  heart,  and  which  he 
purposes  to  attain.  The  things  that  he  thus  values 
are  his  ideals^  goals  to  be  reached.    Ideals  are,  there- 


86  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

fore,  guides  to  action  and  effort,  something  to  be  striven 
after  and  sacrificed  for.  They  are  the  things  most  worth 
while,  for  which  we  can  afford  to  forego  other  things 
of  lesser  value.  It  was  the  force  of  a  great  ideal  which 
led  Paul  to  say,  "This  one  thing  I  do'^;  and  to  the 
attainment  of  that  ideal  he  gave  all  his  purpose  and 
effort. 

To  form  true  ideals  requires  a  trained  sense  of  values; 
one  must  develop  a  power  of  spiritual  perspective,  and 
be  able  to  see  things  in  their  true  proportions.  He 
must  know  what  things  rightly  come  first  if  he  is  to 
"put  first  things  first.'*  He  must  have  some  training 
in  recognizing  the  value  of  "pearls"  if  he  is  to  see  that 
it  is  a  good  exchange  to  "sell  all  that  he  has"  in  order 
to  "buy  the  pearl  of  great  price." 

This  all  suggests  that  one  of  the  responsibilities  rest- 
ing upon  us  as  teachers  of  religion  is  to  guide  the  child 
in  the  forming  of  his  ideals.  We  must  help  him  form 
his  notion  of  what  is  worthy  and  admirable  in  charac- 
ter. We  must  see  that  he  develops  high  standards  of 
truth,  honesty,  obedience,  and  the  other  moral  virtues 
which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  all  vital  religion.  We 
must  make  certain  that  his  ideals  of  success  and  achieve- 
ment include  a  large  measure  of  service  to  his  fellows. 
We  must  ground  him  in  right  personal  ideals  and  stand- 
ards of  purity  and  clean  living.  We  must  make  him 
feel  a  deep  sense  of  responsibility  for  the  full  develop- 
ment and  fruitful  use  of  his  own  powers  and  abilities. 
In  short,  we  must  with  all  the  wisdom  and  devotion 
we  possess  bring  him  to  accept  the  life  of  Jesus  as  the 
ideal  and  pattern  for  his  own  life. 

Fine  appreciations. — What  one  admires  is  an  index 
to  his  character.  More  than  this,  the  quality  and  tone 
of  one's  admirations  finally  build  themselves  into  his 


ATTITUDES  TO  BE  CULTIVATED  87 

nature  and  become  a  part  of  his  very  being.  Life  is 
infinitely  enriched  and  refined  by  responding  to  the 
beauty,  the  goodness,  and  the  gladness  to  be  found 
around  us.  In  Hawthorne's  story  of  The  Great  Stone 
Face,  the  boy  Ernest  dwelt  upon  and  admired  the 
character  revealed  in  the  benignant  lines  of  the  great 
face  outlined  by  the  hand  of  the  Creator  on  the  moun- 
tainside imtil  the  fine  qualities  which  the  young  boy 
daily  idealized  had  grown  into  his  own  life,  and  Ernest 
himseK  had  become  the  "wise  man"  whose  coming 
had  long  been  awaited  by  his  people. 

It  is  not  enough  therefore  to  learn  the  facts  about 
the  lives  of  the  great  men  and  women  of  the  Bible  or 
of  other  times.  The  story  of  their  lives  must  be  pre- 
sented in  such  a  way  that  admiration  is  compelled  from 
the  learner:  for  only  the  qualities  the  child  appre- 
ciates and  admires  are  finally  built  into  his  own  ideal. 
It  is  not  enough  that  the  child  shall  be  taught  that 
God  created  the  world  and  all  that  is  therein;  he  must 
also  be  brought  to  appreciate  and  admire  the  won- 
ders and  beauties  of  nature  as  an  evidence  of  God*s 
wisdom,  power,  and  goodness.  It  is  not  enough  that 
our  pupils  shall  come  to  know  the  chief  events  in  the  life 
of  Jesus  and  the  outline  of  his  teachings;  they  must 
also  find  themselves  lost  in  admiration  of  the  match- 
less qualities  of  his  great  personaHty. 

And  so  also  with  music,  art,  architecture,  with  the 
fine  in  human  life  and  conduct,  or  with  great  and  noble 
deeds.  Inherent  in  them  all  are  spiritual  stimulus  and 
food  for  the  young  Kfe,  manna  upon  which  the  growing 
soul  should  feed.  But  here  again  the  law  holds:  in 
order  to  assimilate  them  to  his  life  the  child  must  appre- 
ciaicy  enjoy,  admire.  To  bring  this  about  is  one  part 
of  our  task  as  teacher. 


88  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

Worthy  loyalties  and  devotions. — Every  worthy 
character  must  have  in  it  a  certain  power  of  resistance, 
a  quality  that  makes  it  able  to  withstand  hardship 
for  the  sake  of  an  ideal  or  a  cause.  It  is  easy  enough 
to  be  heroic  when  it  costs  nothing  of  effort  or  sacrifice. 
There  is  no  trouble  in  securing  supporters  for  a  cause 
that  is  popular,  or  workers  when  the  work  called  for 
is  interesting  and  attractive.  We  are  all  willing  to 
stand  for  the  right  if  to  stand  is  agreeable  and  exhil- 
arating, and  does  not  bring  us  too  much  of  unpleasant- 
ness, pain,  or  suffering. 

But  life  at  its  best  and  noblest  does  involve  some 
hardship.  Much  that  is  best  in  human  experience  has 
come  to  us  through  hardship,  toil,  and  suffering  cheer- 
fully endured  by  heroic  souls  who  counted  their  own 
lives  as  naught  so  that  the  cause  to  which  they  gave 
themselves  might  win.  The  comforts,  freedom,  and 
opportunities  we  enjoy  some  one  paid  for,  bought  with 
endless  effort  and  sacrifice.  Our  very  religion,  the 
symbol  of  Hfe,  gladness,  and  salvation,  has  as  its  back- 
ground tragedy,  suffering,  death,  the  cross. 

The  quahty  that  makes  us  willing  to  endure  and  re- 
sist for  the  sake  of  a  cause  or  an  ideal  we  call  loyalty. 
The  high  value  set  upon  it  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  loyalty 
is  the  first  test  of  citizenship  required;  it  is  a  quality 
admired  and  praised  among  all  peoples  in  all  relations 
of  life;  it  is  the  quality  we  demand  and  prize  in  our 
friends  and  associates.  On  the  other  hand,  disloyalty 
to  country,  friends,  or  trust  is  universally  looked  upon 
as  despicable,  and  punished  with  contempt,  scorn,  and 
hatred. 

The  appeal  to  the  heroic. — One  of  the  ends  of  re- 
ligious teaching  is  to  cultivate  in  our  youth  the  spirit 
of  loyalty  to  worthy  ideals  and  causes.    Loyalty  rests 


ATTITUDES  TO  BE  CULTIVATED  8$ 

on  a  stratum  of  heroism,  which  is  to  be  found  deep  down 
in  every  normal  human  being.  We  must  stimulate 
and  appeal  to  the  heroic  in  the  child's  nature.  We 
must  make  him  see  that  the  strong  and  fine  men  and 
women  are  willing  to  meet  much  that  is  hard  and  dis- 
agreeable, so  that  they  may  be  loyal  to  their  task.  We 
must  make  him  realize  that  the  greatest  and  most 
worthy  thing  one  can  do  is  to  "endure  hardship"  for 
a  cause;  that  to  be  willing  to  suffer  for  an  ideal  is  a 
mark  of  strength  and  courage;  and  that  "having  done 
all  to  stand''  is  often  the  best  test  of  character. 

Nor  must  the  thought  of  loyalty  be  presented  to 
the  child  only  in  the  abstract.  Concrete  examples  are 
worth  much  general  explanation  and  laudation.  The 
loyalties  of  the  great  characters  of  biblical  and  other 
times  can  be  made  the  source  of  great  inspiration;  the 
supreme  loyalty  of  Jesus  to  his  mission  will  exert  a 
powerful  appeal.  But  loyalty  must  be  made  imme- 
diate, definite  and  concrete  to  the  child  in  his  own 
life;  he  must  not  simply  admire  it  afar  off.  Loyalty 
must  be  to  him  not  something  to  learn  about  and  praise 
in  others,  but  something  he  can  make  use  of  himself 
each  day  without  waiting  to  grow  up  or  become  famous. 
So  we  will  teach  the  child  the  loyalties  due  parents 
and  the  home;  loyalties  to  friends  and  comrades;  loyal- 
ties to  school,  community,  and  country;  loyalties  to 
Sunday  school,  church,  and  the  cause  of  religion;  loy- 
alties to  self;  loyalties  to  duty  wherever  found;  and, 
above  all,  loyalties  to  the  Christ  and  his  ideals, 

1.  Do  your  pupils  enjoy  the  church  school,  and  like  to 
come ?  Do  they  enjoy  the  lesson  hour  ?  By  what  means  do 
you  tell?  Is  the  spirit  of  the  class  good  toward  the  school 
and  toward  the  class?    How  do  you  judge  this? 

2.  Do  your  pupils  come  to  the  lesson  hour  fuU  of  ex- 


90 


HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 


pectancy?  Or  is  there  an  indifference  and  lack  of  interest 
with  wMch  you  have  to  contend  ?  If  the  class  fails  in  some 
degree  to  manifest  expectancy  and  interest,  where  do  you 
judge  the  trouble  to  lie?    What  is  the  remedy? 

3.  To  what  degree  do  you  think  your  pupils  are  compre- 
hending and  mastering  what  you  are  teaching  them  ?  How 
does  their  mastery  compare  with  that  secured  in  the  public 
schools?  Have  you  plans  for  making  their  mastery  more 
complete? 

4.  Do  you  judge  that  your  pupils  are  developing  such  an 
attitude  toward  the  Bible  that  their  interest  will  carry  on 
beyond  the  time  they  are  in  your  class  ?  Do  you  think  they 
have  an  increasing  interest  in  religion?  Are  you  making 
these  questions  one  of  the  problems  of  yoiu*  teaching? 

5.  Are  your  pupils  developing  through  the  work  you  are 
doing  a  growing  consciousness  of  God  in  their  lives?  Do 
they  coimt  themselves  as  children  of  God?  Just  what  do 
you  believe  is  the  status  of  your  children  spiritually?  Do 
they  need  conservation  or  conversion?  What  difference 
will  yotu-  answer  make  in  your  teaching? 

6.  To  what  degree  are  your  pupils  loyal  to  the  church 
school?  To  their  particular  class?  To  the  church?  What 
are  the  tests  of  loyalty  ?  Do  they  come  regularly  ?  Do  they 
seek  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  class  and  the  school  ? 
Do  they  do  their  part?  What  can  be  done  to  increase 
loyalty? 

FOR  FURTHER  READING 

Wilber,  A  Child's  Religion. 
Bushnell,  Christian  Nurture  (Revised  Ed.). 
Betts,  The  Mind  and  Its  Education,  chapter  on  "In- 
terest." 

Fisk,  Boy  Life  and  Self -Government. 


Mr 


CHAPTER  VI 

CONNECTING  RELIGIOUS  INSTRUCTION 
WITH  LIFE  AND  CONDUCT 

We  have  now  come  to  the  third  of  the  great  trio  of 
aims  in  religious  education — right  living.  This,  of  course, 
is  the  aim  to  which  the  gathering  of  religious  knowledge 
and  the  setting  up  of  religious  attitudes  are  but  sec- 
ondary; or,  rather,  fruitful  religious  knowledge,  and 
right  religious  attitudes  are  the  means  by  which  to 
lead  to  skill  in  right  living  as  the  end. 

In  the  last  analysis  the  child  does  not  come  to  us 
that  he  may  learn  this  or  that  set  of  facts,  nor  that 
he  may  develop  such  and  such  a  group  of  feelings,  but 
that  through  these  he  may  Kve  better.  The  final  test 
of  our  teaching,  therefore,  is  just  this:  Because  of  ouH 
instruction,  does  the  child  live  differently  here  and 
now,  as  a  child,  in  all  his  multiform  relations  in  the 
home,  the  school,  the  church,  the  community,  and  in 
his  own  personal  life?  Are  the  lessons  we  teach  trans- 
lated continuously  into  better  conduct,  finer  acts,  and 
stronger  character  as  shown  in  the  daily  run  of  the 
learner's  experience? 

It  is  true  that  the  full  fruits  of  our  teaching  and  of 
the  child's  learning  must  wait  for  time  and  experience 
to  bring  the  individual  to  fuller  development.  But 
it  is  also  true  that  it  is  impossible  for  the  child  to  lay 
up  a  store  of  unused  knowledge  and  have  it  remain 
against  a  later  time  of  need  in  a  distant  future.  The 
only  knowledge  that  forms  a  vital  part  of  our  equip- 
ment is  knowledge  that  is  in  active  service,  guiding 

91 


92  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

our  thought  and  decisions  from  day  to  day.  Unused 
knowledge  quickly  vanishes  away,  leaving  little  more 
permanent  impression  on  the  life  than  that  left  on 
the  wave  when  we  plunge  our  hand  into  the  water 
and  take  it  out  again.  In  similar  way  the  interests, 
ideals,  and  emotions  which  are  aroused  without  at  the 
same  time  affording  a  natural  outlet  for  expression  in 
deeds  and  conduct  soon  fade  away  without  having 
fulfilled  the  purpose  for  which  they  exist.  The  great 
thing  in  religious  education  is  to  J&nd  immediate  and 
natural  autlet  in  expression,  a  way  for  the  child  to  use 
what  he  learns;  to  get  the  child  to  do  those  things  pointed 
out  by  the  lessons  we  teach  him. 

Religion  drawing  closer  to  Hfe. — This  is  the  only 
method  of  religious  education  that  will  meet  the  re- 
quirements of  these  times  upon  the  Christian  religion. 
The  urmiistakable  trend  of  modern  Christianity  is  to 
connect  religion  more  closely  and  vitally  with  life  itself 
— to  make  it  a  ryiode  of  living  in  a  deeper  sense  than 
has  obtained  since  the  days  of  Christ  upon  earth.  This 
is  a  very  hopeful  sign,  for  it  accords  completely  with 
the  spirit  and  message  of  Jesus.  When  he  said,  "By 
their  fruit  ye  shall  know  them,"  what  did  he  mean 
but  that  the  quality  and  value  of  a  man's  religion  is 
to  be  known  by  its  outcome  in  deeds  and  action?  When 
he  said,  "Not  everyone  that  saith,  Lord!  Lord!  but 
he  that  doeth  .  .  .";  and  again,  "He  that  heareth  these 
sayings  of  mine  and  doeth  them  .  .  .  ,"  was  he  not  again 
emphasizing  the  great  truth  that  one's  reHgion  is  tested 
only  by  the  extent  to  which  it  is  tied  up  with  his  daily 
living? 

The  teacher  will,  therefore,  say  to  himself.  The 
religious  knowledge  I  am  putting  into  the  minds  of 
my  pupils  is  of  supreme  importance — if  it  makes  them 


LIFE  AND  CONDUCT  93 

live  better  and  act  more  nobly;  the  religious  attitudes 
and  emotions  I  am  cultivating  in  my  class  are  full  of 
value  and  significance — if  they  cause  their  possessors 
to  live  more  broadly,  sympathetically,  usefully,  and 
happily.  The  true  teacher  will  then  add,  And  it 
is  my  task  to  see  that  this  result  follows  without  fail  I 

RELIGIOUS  HABITS  AS  AN  AIM 

Indirectly  all  this  is  to  say  that  our  first  care  in 
teaching  the  young  child  religion  should  be  to  lead 
him  to  form  religious  habits.  For  our  lives  are  controlled 
by  a  great  network  of  habits  which  come  to  us  as  the 
result  of  acts  often  repeated,  until  they  have  become 
as  second  nature.  There  are  many  things  about  the 
child's  reHgion  that  should  become  second  nature;  that 
is,  should  become  habit — and  which  are  not  certain 
and  secure  until  they  have  grown  into  habits.  For 
example,  it  is  wholly  desirable  to  have  the  habit  of 
attending  church,  of  personal  devotions,  and  of  re- 
sisting temptation,  so  well  fixed  that  the  acts  required 
for  each  take  care  of  themselves  with  a  minimum  of 
struggle  and  decision  each  time  the  occasion  arises. 
Not  only  will  this  method  require  less  strain  and  com- 
pulsion on  our  part,  but  it  will  result  in  more  uniform 
churchgoing,  attention  to  devotions,  and  the  over- 
coming of  temptation. 

The  age  for  habit  forming. — The  principle,  then,  is 
simple  and  clear.  At  the  beginning  of  the  child's  con- 
tact with  the  church  school  he  cannot  grasp  the  broader 
and  deeper  meanings  of  rehgion;  but  he  can  during 
this  period  be  led  into  the  doing  of  right  acts  and  deeds, 
and  thus  have  his  religious  habits  started.  At  a  time 
when  his  brain  is  yet  unripe,  and  hence  unready  for 
the  more  difficult  truths  or  the  more  exalted  emotions 


94  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

of  reUgion,  the  child  is  at  his  best  in  the  matter  of  habit- 
forming.  For  habits  grounded  in  early  childhood  are 
more  easily  formed  and  more  deeply  imbedded  than 
those  acquired  at  any  later  time,  and  they  exert  a 
stronger  control  over  the  life. 

How  habits  grow. — But  habits  do  not  come  of  their 
own  accord;  they  must  be  gradually  acquired.  Imme- 
diately back  of  every  habit  lies  a  chain  of  acts  out  of 
which  the  habit  grows.  Given  the  acts,  and  the  habit 
is  as  sure  to  follow  as  night  the  day.  Hence  the  great 
thing  in  religious  instruction  of  the  young  is  to  afford 
opportunity  for  our  teaching  to  be  carried  as  imme- 
diately as  may  be  over  into  deeds. 

As  we  make  the  desired  impressions  upon  the  minds 
of  our  pupils,  we  must  see  that  the  way  is  reasonably 
open  for  expression.  The  lessons  should  be  so  direct, 
simple,  and  clear  that  there  is  no  difficulty  in  con- 
necting them  immediately  with  the  daily  life,  and 
then  we  should  do  our  best  to  see  that  the  connection 
is  made. 

As  we  teach  we  should  have  in  mind  the  week  that 
lies  ahead  in  the  child's  life — in  the  home,  the  school, 
on  the  playground,  in  the  community,  and  in  whatever 
personal  situations  and  problems  we  may  know  are 
being  met.  Then  we  should  use  every  power  as  a  teacher 
to  make  sure  that  we  help  the  child  meet  the  chal- 
lenge of  his  daily  life  with  the  finest  acts,  best  deeds, 
and  noblest  conduct  possible  for  him  to  command. 

APPLICATION  OF  EJELIGIOUS  INSTRUCTION  TO 
THE  DAILY  LIFE 

One  great  purpose,  then,  in  religious  instruction  is 
to  attach  the  stimulus  and  appeal  of  religion  to  the 
common  round  of  daily  life  and  experience  of  the  child. 


LIFE  AND  CONDUCT  95 

As  Christ  came  that  we  might  have  Kfe,  not  a  future 
life  alone,  but  a  full,  happy,  and  worthy  life  in  the 
present  as  well,  so  we  come  to  the  child  as  a  teacher 
to  help  him  in  his  life  here  and  now.  Our  task  at  this 
point  is  to  lead  him  to  practice  the  great  fundamental 
virtues  whose  value  has  been  proved  through  ages  of 
human  experience,  to  incorporate  directly  into  his  Kving 
the  lessons  learned  slowly  and  with  great  sacrifice  by 
generations  which  have  preceded  him.  Our  aim  will 
be  to  lead  our  pupils,  out  of  their  own  choice  and  con- 
viction, to  adopt  and  follow  a  code  of  action  such  as  the 
following: 

/  will  respect  and  care  for  my  body,  I  will  keep  my 
body  clean  and  pure.  I  will  try  to  avoid  sickness  and 
disease.  I  will  breathe  good  air  day  and  night,  and 
live  out  of  doors  all  I  can.  Because  I  shall  need  all 
my  strength  and  endurance  at  their  best,  I  will  pay 
no  toll  to  the  poisons  of  alcohol  and  nicotine.  I  will 
be  temperate  in  my  food,  and  eat  such  foods  as  will 
favor  growth,  health,  and  strength.  I  will  bathe  often, 
play  and  work  hard,  and  get  plenty  of  sleep  and  rest. 
My  character  will  be  judged  by  my  poise  and  carriage; 
therefore  I  will  try  to  walk,  stand,  and  sit  well,  and 
not  allow  my  manner  to  show  slouchiness  and  care- 
lessness. Both  because  of  my  own  self-respect  and 
because  I  owe  it  to  others,  I  will  strive  to  make  myself 
neat  and  attractive  in  dress  and  person.  I  will  treat 
my  body  right  so  far  as  I  can  know  what  is  best  for  it, 
and  will  do  nothing  to  defile  or  injure  any  part  of  it. 
I  will  try  to  keep  my  body  a  fit  dwelling  place  for  my 
soul,  for  God  gave  them  both  to  me.  And  I  will  do 
all  I  can  to  make  my  home,  school,  and  community  a 
beautiful  and  healthful  place  for  others  to  live. 

/   wiU   keep  good-natured,   cheerful,   and   responsive. 


96  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

Tasks  grow  easier  and  loads  lighter  when  one  is  cheer- 
ful. I  will  therefore  guard  against  gloomy  and  sullen 
moods,  which  not  only  make  me  unhappy,  but  cause 
unhappiness  to  those  about  me.  I  will  watch  that  I 
may  not  be  cross  and  irritable  at  home,  and  shall  do 
my  part  to  make  home  the  bright  and  happy  place  I 
wish  it  to  be.  I  will  be  careful  not  to  grumble  nor  whine 
when  things  go  wrong,  or  when  I  cannot  have  my 
own  way.  I  will  remember  that  troubles  flee  when 
we  refuse  to  think  about  them.  I  will  refuse  to  give 
way  to  ill  temper,  for  I  would  not  become  its  slave; 
rather  will  I  learn  to  laugh  at  small  troubles  and  an- 
noyances that  cannot  be  cured.  If  I  am  feeling  sad 
or  unhappy,  I  will  stop  to  speak  a  kind  word  or  do  a 
fine  deed,  and  the  gloom  will  disappear. 

/  will  take  pride  in  work  and  thrift.  The  world  has  no 
place  for  the  one  who  shirks.  Some  one  toiled  for 
every  comfort  I  enjoy;  some  one  worked  for  the  clothing, 
shelter,  food,  and  all  the  other  good  things  that  come 
to  me.  I  must  do  my  part,  work,  help  others,  and 
especially  help  in  the  home.  I  will  not  slight  my  tasks, 
but  say;  ''I  can!"  and  go  at  my  work  with  a  will.  What 
though  the  task  be  hard — if  it  is  mine,  I'll  do  it!  What 
though  the  lesson  be  long — if  it  is  to  be  learned,  I'll 
master  it!  If  I  can  stand  at  the  head  of  my  class,  I 
will,  but  only  when  I  have  earned  the  right  by  honest 
effort.  Because  the  world  contains  so  many  who  must 
go  hungry  for  want  of  food,  and  who  lack  other  ne- 
cessities and  comforts,  I  will  not  needlessly  spend  nor 
waste  anything  of  value.  I  will  take  pride  in  thrift 
and  saving,  and  do  all  I  can  to  encourage  this  spirit 
in  others.  I  will  respect  and  honor  all  worthy  toil. 
I  will  thank  the  good  God  every  day  that  he  allows  me 
to  take  part  in  the  work  round  about  me,  and  ask  him 


LIFE  AND  CONDUCT  97 

to  help  me  to  do  my  share  well  m  each  seen  or  unseen 
part  of  every  task. 

/  will  be  honest  and  speak  the  truth.  Only  one  who  is 
honest  is  worthy  of  trust,  and  he  who  tells  a  He  con- 
fesses that  he  is  a  coward  and  afraid  to  let  the  truth 
be  known.  I  will  be  honest  even  in  little  things,  and 
will  have  no  "white  lies."  Though  it  may  seem  a 
trifle  to  cheat  in  school  or  not  play  fair  in  a  game,  I 
will  be  above  all  trickery  and  deceit.  Both  in  play 
and  in  work  my  fight  must  be  clean  and  fair;  I  shall 
ask  but  for  an  even  chance.  I  will  give  full  value  for 
whatever  I  receive;  if  I  work  for  wages,  I  must  make 
sure  to  earn  them;  if  I  secure  honors  or  grades  at  school, 
I  must  win  them.  I  will  let  alone  all  games  of  chance, 
for  gambling  takes  what  one  has  not  earned,  and  is 
therefore  stealing. 

/  will  he  obedient  to  the  rules  oj  my  home  and  school 
and  to  the  laws  of  my  country.  The  rules  of  home  and 
school  and  the  laws  of  state  and  nation  are  made  for 
the  good  of  all;  and  wherever  freedom  rules  there  laws 
must  be  obeyed.  I  will  not  quibble  nor  seek  to  evade, 
but  give  prompt  and  cheerful  obedience  where  v^er  my 
duty  is  to  obey.  I  will  honor  the  law  and  respect  those 
in  authority  over  me.  I  will  not  be  one  of  those  who 
must  needs  be  watched,  and  narrowly  held  to  right 
paths.  I  will  obey  not  because  of  fear  or  compulsion, 
but  gladly,  because  I  choose  to  do  the  right.  I  will 
not  tempt  others  to  disobedience,  nor  to  the  violation 
of  the  law.  I  will  be  a  loyal  member  of  my  home  and 
school  and  a  patriotic  citizen  of  my  country,  doing 
all  in  my  power  to  advance  their  welfare  and  interests. 

/  wUl  he  courteous  and  kind.  The  men  and  women 
whom  people  love  and  admire  are  courteous  and  kind. 
The  strong  and  the  brave  are  never  cruel,  they  do  not 


98  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

willingly  injure  others  nor  hurt  their  feelings.  I  will 
strive  each  day  to  be  courteous  at  home,  kind  to  those 
who  are  nearest  to  me,  and  helpful  to  my  friends  and 
companions.  I  will  not  knowingly  cause  pain  or  suffer- 
ing to  any  person.  I  will  extend  my  protection  and 
kindness  to  all  animals  and  every  dumb  and  helpless 
thing,  remembering  that  pain  is  pain  wherever  felt, 
in  a  worm  as  well  as  in  a  man.  Especially  will  I  show 
my  best  courtesy  to  aged  and  infirm  persons,  and  to 
all  such  as  may  need  help.  It  will  be  my  high  privilege 
to  render  service  to  any  who  are  unfortunate,  crippled, 
or  in  distress.  I  will  do  unto  others  what  I  would 
have  them  do  unto  me. 

/  will  show  courage  and  self-control.  I  should  not 
want  to  be  a  coward,  for  cowardice  always  brings  pity 
and  contempt.  I  know  that  all  must  at  times  meet 
pain  and  suffering;  and  when  the  time  comes  to  me 
I  must  not  lose  my  courage  and  self-control;  I  will  not 
shrink  nor  cringe,  but  find  strength  in  remembering 
that  many  have  suffered  and  endured  without  com- 
plaint. I  will  avoid  danger  and  unnecessary  risk  when- 
ever possible,  but  if  accident  or  duty  puts  me  in  a  place 
of  danger,  I  must  try  to  keep  a  cool  head  and  to  show 
my  mettle  by  doing  my  full  duty  bravely.  When 
sometimes  things  go  wrong,  and  I  cannot  have  my  own 
way,  I  shall  show  my  courage  and  self-command  by 
keeping  my  temper  and  tongue  under  control;  I  will 
be  a  good  sportsman  and  not  complain,  nag,  nor  find 
fault.  I  will  make  it  a  rule,  if  I  feel  my  anger  rising, 
to  think  twice  before  I  speak  or  act.  If  I  have  wronged 
or  offended  anyone,  I  will  be  strong  enough  to  go  and 
make  it  right,  confessing  my  fault.  When  I  am  tempted 
to  think  or  do  or  say  what  I  know  to  be  wrong,  I  will 
ask  my  heavenly  Father  for  strength  to  overcome  the 


i  i  c 

LIFE  AND  CONDUCT  99 

temptation.    It  will  be  my  constant  purpose  and  care 
to  keep  myself  pure  in  thought,  word,  and  deed. 

/  will  be  dependable  and  do  my  duty.  The  world  needs 
men  and  women  on  whom  it  can  depend,  and  who  are 
not  afraid  to  do  their  duty  at  whatever  cost.  I  must 
learn  to  face  hardship  and  to  meet  the  disagreeable 
without  giving  way  before  it.  I  must  not  ask  what 
road  is  easy,  but  what  way  is  right — and  then  do  my 
duty.  When  I  know  I  ought  I  must  be  able  to  say 
I  mil,  even  if  the  choice  brings  me  pain  and  trouble. 
If  I  have  undertaken  any  trust  or  task,  I  must  not 
lag  nor  weaken  nor  grow  careless,  but  faithfully  see  it 
through  to  the  end.  When  my  country  calls,  or  the 
world  needs  my  services,  I  must  not  consult  my  own 
wishes  or  convenience,  but  unfalteringly  follow  where 
duty  leads.  Whenever  I  can  with  justice  and  self- 
respect,  I  will  avoid  a  quarrel;  but  I  will  not  sit  idly 
by  and  see  injustice  and  oppression  brought  on  the 
weak  and  helpless  if  I  can  prevent. 

/  wiU  love  and  enjoy  nature.  The  birds,  the  flowers, 
the  trees  and  the  brooks  make  the  best  of  friends. 
I  will  study  the  great  book  of  nature  around  me,  and 
seek  to  learn  the  secrets  of  its  many  forms.  I  will 
live  as  much  as  I  can  in  the  great  out-of-doors,  finding 
in  its  beauty  and  freshness  new  evidences  of  God's 
wisdom  and  goodness.  I  will  never  injure  nor  destroy, 
but  do  all  I  can  to  protect  the  beautiful  Hving  and 
growing  things  about  me.  I  will  find  joy  in  the  storm, 
the  rain,  and  the  snow,  and  then  no  day  will  seem 
dreary  or  dull  to  me.  I  will  seek  for  some  good  purpose 
in  all  harmless  created  things,  making  comrades  of 
my  animal  playmates,  and  taking  an  interest  in  all 
such  things  as  creep  or  crawl  or  fly;  and  need  then 
never  be  lonely  nor  lack  good  company.    I  will  look 


J.     V  '  "aJO  \^is:, 


loo  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

upon  the  glory  of  the  sunset,  the  wonder  of  a  starlit 
night,  the  sparkle  of  the  dew,  and  then  reverently 
thank  God  that  he  has  made  the  great  world  so  beau- 
tiful and  good. 

/  will  each  day  turn  to  my  heavenly  Father  for  help^ 
strength,  and  forgiveness.  I  know  I  cannot  hve  my  life 
as  I  should  live  it  without  God's  help  and  counsel. 
I  will  therefore  turn  to  him  in  prayer  that  he  will  guide 
me  when  I  am  puzzled  or  uncertain,  that  he  will  give 
me  victory  when  I  am  tempted  to  do  wrong,  that  he 
will  give  me  courage  when  I  falter  or  am  afraid,  that 
he  will  forgive  me  when  I  have  sinned  or  failed  in  my 
duty.  I  will  take  for  my  standard  of  life  and  action 
the  example  of  Jesus,  and  show  my  love  and  appre- 
ciation by  living  as  fully  as  I  can  the  kind  of  life  he 
Kved.  I  know  that  I  cannot  have  Gk)d's  presence  in 
my  life  unless  I  keep  my  heart  pure  and  my  conduct 
right;  I  will  therefore,  with  his  help,  as  nearly  as  I 
can,  live  from  day  to  day  as  I  think  God  would  have 
me  live.  I  will  take  time  morning  and  evening  of  each 
day  for  a  few  moments  of  prayer,  quiet  thought,  and 
for  the  study  of  the  Bible.  I  will  do  my  best  to  be  a 
worthy  Christian. 

The  teacher,  of  course,  will  need  to  adapt  the  appli- 
cation of  such  principles  as  those  we  have  been  dis- 
cussing to  the  age  and  the  needs  of  his  pupils.  Such 
lessons  cannot  be  presented  as  so  much  abstract  truth. 
The  purpose,  as  we  have  already  seen,  is  to  lead 
the  child  to  make  such  high  ideals  his  habit  of  life 
and  action,  so  that  at  last  they  may  govern  his 
conduct  and  become  an  inseparable  part  of  his  char- 
acter. To  do  this,  such  ideals  must  be  made  desirable 
and  attainable. 


LIFE  AND  CONDUCT  loi 

PARTICIPATION  IN  THE  WORK  OF  THE  CHURCH 
AND   SOCIAL   SERVICE 

The  forming  of  religious  social  habits  is  as  important 
as  the  forming  of  religious  personal  habits.  From  his 
earliest  years  the  child  should  come  to  look  on  his 
church,  his  Sunday  school,  and  the  class  to  which  he 
belongs  as  a  responsibility  in  which  he  has  a  personal 
share.  His  experience  in  connection  with  these  organ- 
izations should  be  so  interesting  and  satisfying  that 
his  attendance  does  not  have  to  be  compelled,  but  so 
that  his  loyalty,  affection,  and  pride  naturally  lead 
him  to  them. 

When  this  is  accomplished,  the  basis  of  good  attend- 
ance is  secured,  and  the  foundation  laid  for  later  par- 
ticipation in  all  forms  of  church  work.  Once  the  right 
spirit  is  created  and  right  habits  developed,  unpleasant 
weather,  bad  roads  or  streets,  getting  up  late  on  Sunday 
mornings,  nor  any  other  obstacles  will  stand  in  the 
way  of  regular  church  and  Sunday  school  attendance 
any  more  than  of  day-school  attendance.  And  until 
the  church  has  its  children  (and  their  homes)  so  trained 
that  attendance  on  the  church  school  is  regular  through- 
out the  year,  our  instruction  must  of  necessity  fail 
to  reach  its  full  aim. 

Learning  to  take  responsibility  for  others. — 
One  of  the  greatest  lessons  a  child  can  learn  from  his 
lessons  in  religion  is  that  he  is  his  brother's  keeper. 
The  instincts  of  childhood  are  naturally  selfish  and 
self -centered;  the  sense  of  responsibility  for  others 
must  be  gradually  trained  and  developed.  A  double 
purpose  can  therefore  be  served  by  enlisting  the  chil- 
dren of  our  classes  as  recruiting  officers  to  secure  new 
members,  and  to  look  up  any  who  may  have  dropped 


I02  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

out  or  whose  attendance  is  irregular.  The  sense  of 
pride  and  emulation  in  such  work,  and  the  feeling  on 
the  part  of  our  pupils  that  they  are  actually  accom- 
plishing something  definite  for  their  class  or  school 
will  do  much  to  cement  loyalty  and  train  the  children 
to  assume  responsibihty  for  their  comrades. 

This  pride  of  the  group  is  a  strong  force  during  later 
childhood  and  adolescence,  and  can  be  fruitfully  used 
in  religious  training.  The  boy  or  the  girl  Scout  takes 
great  pride  in  doing  acts  of  kindness  and  service  with- 
out personal  reward,  just  because  that  is  one  of  the  things 
that  scouting  stands  for.  "Scouts  are  expected  to  do 
this,"  or  "Scouts  are  not  expected  to  do  that,"  has  all 
the  force  of  law  to  the  loyal  Scout. 

The  Sunday  school  class  can  command  the  same 
spirit  if  the  proper  appeal  is  made.  In  its  neighborhood 
work  and  on  many  special  occasions  the  church  and 
the  Sunday  school  will  have  need  of  messenger  service. 
Errands  will  have  to  be  run,  articles  will  have  to  be 
gathered  and  distributed,  calls  will  have  to  be  made, 
funds  will  have  to  be  collected,  and  a  hundred  other 
things  done  which  children  can  do  as  well  or  better 
than  anyone  else.  And  it  is  precisely  in  these  practical 
acts  of  homely  service  that  the  child  gets  his  best  train- 
ing in  the  social  side  of  religion. 

Laboratory  work  in  religion. — The  wise  teacher  will 
therefore  seize  upon  every  opportunity  to  find  some- 
thing worth  while  for  his  pupils  to  do.  He  will  have 
them  help  with  the  distribution  of  supplies  in  the  class- 
room; he  will  see  that  they  volunteer  to  help  the  super- 
intendent or  other  officials  who  may  need  assistance; 
he  will  give  them  responsibility  in  decorating  the  church 
or  classroom  for  special  occasions;  he  will  leave  to 
their  cooperation  as  large  a  measure  as  possible  of  the 


LIFE  AND  CONDUCT  103 

work  to  be  done  in  arranging  and  carrying  out  class 
or  school  picnics,  excursions,  social  gatherings,  and  the 
like;  he  will  arrange  for  special  groups  to  visit  the  aged, 
sick,  or  shut-in  for  the  purpose  of  singing  gospel  songs, 
and  will  open  the  way  for  those  who  are  qualified  to 
do  so  to  read  the  Bible  or  other  matter  to  the  blind 
or  those  whose  sight  is  failing.  In  short,  the  devoted 
teacher  who  understands  the  laws  of  childhood  will 
make  his  instruction  as  nearly  as  possible  a  laboratory 
course  in  religion,  finding  the  material  and  the  occasion 
in  the  human  needs  and  the  opportunities  for  loving 
service  which  lie  closest  at  hand. 

Assuming  personal  responsibility. — The  sense  of  the 
child's  responsibility  for  his  class  and  school  must  also 
carry  into  the  exercise  of  the  school  itself.  The  boy 
should  be  led  to  prepare  his  lesson  because  of  the  truth 
it  contains;  but  also  because  a  recitation  cannot  be  a 
success  unless  the  pupils  know  their  lesson  and  do 
their  part.  He  should  pay  his  share  toward  the  running 
of  the  school  and  church  because  it  is  our  duty  to  ^vq, 
but  also  because  he  feels  a  personal  responsibility  for 
his  church  and  his  class.  He  should  take  part  in  public 
prayer  or  the  leadership  of  meetings,  when  asked  to  do, 
because  it  is  right  and  proper  to  do  these  things,  but 
also  because  he  realizes  that  each  member  of  the  class 
and  school  owes  it  to  the  organization  to  do  his 
share. 

Nothing  can  take  the  place  of  whole-hearted,  joyous 
participation  in  the  real  activities  of  the  Sunday  school 
as  a  means  of  catching  the  interest  of  the  members 
and  securing  their  loyalty;  for  interest  and  loyalty 
finally  attach  to  those  activities  in  which  we  have  a 
share.  The  school  in  which  the  child  finds  a  chance 
to  express  the  lessons  and  put  into  practice  the  maxims 


I04  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

he  is  taught  is  the  school  which  is  building  Christian 
character  and  providing  for  future  religious  leadership. 

Participation  in  singing. — Especially  should  we  de- 
velop in  our  children  the  ability  and  will  to  engage 
in  religious  singing.  Almost  every  child  can  sing,  and 
all  children  respond  to  the  appeal  of  music  adapted 
to  their  understanding.  The  most  expert  and  inspiring 
leadership  which  the  church  can  command  should  be 
placed  in  charge  of  the  children's  singing  in  the  Sunday 
school. 

If  it  comes  to  the  question  of  selecting  between  a 
director  for  the  adult  choir  and  a  soloist  for  the  gen- 
eral congregation  on  the  one  hand,  or  an  efficient  or- 
ganizer and  director  of  children's  music  on  the  other 
hand,  there  should  not  be  a  moment's  hesitation  on  the 
part  of  any  church  to  supply  the  needs  of  the  children 
first.  The  aim  should  then  be  to  have  all  the  children 
sing,  and  allow  none  to  form  the  habit  of  depending 
on  the  older  members  or  on  a  few  leaders  to  supply 
the  singing  for  the  entire  school.  Those  who  possess 
special  ability  in  music  should  be  formed  into  choruses, 
orchestras,  school  bands,  or  similar  organizations. 
Not  only  will  all  this  add  to  the  interest  and  effective- 
ness of  the  school  itself,  but,  not  less  important,  will 
be  helping  to  form  the  music  habit  in  connection  with 
sacred  music. 

Training  in  giving. — The  missionary  enterprises  of 
the  church  afford  one  of  the  best  opportunities  for 
giving  the  child  practical  training  in  the  social  aspect 
of  religion.  It  is  not  enough  that  the  children  shall 
be  told  the  stories  of  the  missionary  heroes  and  given 
the  picture  of  the  needs  of  the  people  in  far-away  lands. 
Once  the  imagination  is  stirred  and  the  emotions  warmed 
by  this  instruction,  an  immediate  and  natural  outlet 


LIFE  AND  CONDUCT  105 

in  expression  must  be  found  if  these  lessons  are  to 
fulfill   their   end. 

Children  should  early  be  led  into  giving  money  for 
missionary  purposes,  and  this  as  far  as  possible  should 
be  their  own  money  which  they  themselves  have 
earned.  For  the  child  to  go  to  his  father  on  a  Sunday 
morning  for  money  for  the  missionary  collection  does 
not  answer  the  need  on  the  educational  side;  it  is  the 
child's  real  sharing  that  leaves  the  impression  and 
teaches  the  lesson. 

There  is  also  real  educational  value  in  leading  chil- 
dren to  give  clothing,  food,  or  other  necessities  for  the 
use  of  the  needy.  Here,  again,  the  giving  should  in- 
volve something  of  real  sacrifice  and  sharing,  and  not 
consist  merely  in  giving  away  that  for  which  the  child 
himseK  no  longer  cares.  The  joint  giving  by  a  class 
or  the  entire  school  for  the  support  of  a  missionary 
worker  whose  name  is  known,  and  a  somewhat  detailed 
report  of  whose  work  is  received,  lends  immediateness 
and  reality  to  the  participation  of  the  pupils.  A  strong 
appeal  can  be  made  to  the  spirit  of  giving  by  the  adop- 
tion by  the  class  of  some  needy  boy  or  girl  whose  Chris- 
tian education  is  provided  for  by  the  efforts  of  the 
class,  and  to  whom  personal  letters  can  be  written  and 
from  whom  replies  may  be  received. 

Social  service. — The  children  of  our  Sunday  schools 
should  be  given  an  active  and  prominent  part  in  all 
forms  of  community  welfare  service.  The  successful 
enlistment  of  the  Boy  Scouts  and  the  Girl  Scouts  in 
many  valuable  forms  of  community  enterprises  contains 
a  vital  suggestion  and  lesson  for  the  church  school. 
Wherever  good  deeds  need  to  be  done,  wherever  help 
needs  to  be  rendered,  wherever  kindness  and  service 
are  necessary,  there  the  children  should  be  called  upon 


io6  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

to  do  their  part.  If  the  tasks  and  responsibilities  are 
suited  to  the  various  ages,  there  will  be  no  trouble  about 
securing  response.  Nor,  on  the  other  hand,  will  there 
be  any  doubt  but  that  the  lessons  learned  will  be  entirely- 
vital  and  will  serve  to  connect  the  religious  motive 
with  everyday  life  and  its  activities. 

Religion  finding  expression  in  the  home. — No 
system  or  method  of  rehgious  instruction  is  effective 
the  results  of  which  do  not  find  expression  in  the  life 
of  the  home.  It  is  here  in  the  intimate  relations  of 
children  with  each  other  and  with  their  parents  that 
the  moral  and  religious  lessons  of  forbearance,  good 
will,  and  mutual  service  find  most  frequent  and  vital 
opportunity  for  application. 

Children  need  early  to  be  made  to  see  their  individual 
and  joint  responsibility  for  the  happiness,  cheerfulness, 
good  nature,  and  general  social  tone  of  their  home; 
and  to  help  at  these  points  should  become  a  part  of 
their  religion.  They  should  be  stimulated  to  share 
in  the  care  of  the  home,  and  not  to  shirk  their  part 
of  its  work.  They  should  be  interested  in  the  home's 
finances,  and  come  to  feel  a  personal  responsibility 
for  saving  or  earning  as  the  situation  may  require. 
They  should  have  a  definite  part  in  the  hospitality 
which  the  home  extends  to  its  friends  and  neighbors, 
and  come  by  experience  to  sense  the  true  meaning  of 
the  word  "neighborliness." 

The  appearance  and  attractiveness  of  their  home 
should  be  a  matter  of  pride  with  children,  and  this 
feeling  should  cause  them  to  be  careful  in  their  own 
habits  of  neatness,  cleanliness,  and  order  about  the 
home.  All  these  things  have  a  bearing  on  the  founda- 
tions of  character  and  are  therefore  a  legitimate  con- 
cern in  rehgious  instruction. 


LIFE  AND  CONDUCT  107 

The  final  tests  of  our  instruction. — In  such  things 
as  we  have  been  discussing,  then,  we  find  one  of  the 
surest  tests  of  the  outcome  of  our  teaching  the  child 
religion — Are  the  lessons  carrying  over?  Is  the  child, 
because  of  our  contact  with  him,  growing  in  attractive- 
ness and  strength  of  personality  and  character?  Is  he 
developing  a  habit  of  prayer,  devotion,  spiritual  turn- 
ing to  God?  Is  he  doing  a  reasonable  amount  of  reading 
and  study  of  the  Bible  and  the  lesson  material  of  the 
school?  Is  he  taking  such  personal  part  in  the  various 
social  and  religious  activities  of  the  church  and  the 
community  that  he  is  "getting  his  hand  in,"  and  de- 
veloping the  attachments  and  loyalties  which  can  come 
only  through  participation?  In  short,  is  the  child 
given  a  chance  to  apply,  and  does  he  daily  put  into 
practice  and  thus  into  character,  the  content  and  spirit 
of  what  we  teach  him? 

The  answers  we  must  return  to  these  questions  will 
measure  our  success  as  teachers  and  determine  the  value 
coming  to  the  child  from  our  instruction. 

1.  To  what  extent  do  you  believe  your  pupils  are  living 
differently  in  their  daily  lives  for  the  instruction  you  are 
giving  them?  Do  you  definitely  plan  your  teaching  to  ac- 
complish this  aim?  For  example,  what  definite  results  are 
you  seeking  from  the  next  lesson? 

2.  Can  you  think  your  class  over  pupil  by  pupil  and  de- 
cide which  of  these  points  in  the  code  of  action  most  needs 
be  stressed  in  individual  cases  ?  Do  the  topics  in  this  code 
suggest  points  of  emphasis  which  might  serve  for  many 
different  lessons?  Is  there  danger  of  loss  in  efficiency  if  we 
try  to  stress  too  many  of  the  points  at  one  time  ? 

3.  Are  the  children  of  your  class  interested  in  keeping  up 
the  membership  and  attendance?  What  specific  part  and 
responsibility  do  you  give  the  members  in  this  matter? 


1[o8  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

Is  it  possible  that  you  could  plan  to  use  their  help  more 
fully  and  effectively? 

4.  Suppose  you  try  making  a  list  of  all  the  different  lines 
of  participation  in  religious  activities  directly  opened  up  to 
the  pupils  of  your  class  by  the  church  and  the  church 
school.  Is  the  Hst  as  long  as  it  should  be?  What  further 
provision  coiild  be  made  for  the  children  to  have  definite 
responsibility  and  activity? 

5.  Do  you  think  that  your  pupils  are  becoiTiing  increas- 
ingly inclined  to  look  upon  religion  as  a  mode  of  living? 
For  example,  will  your  children  be  more  agreeable,  respon- 
sive, obedient,  and  helpful  in  the  home  next  week  for  the 
lessons  you  have  been  teaching  them?  Will  they  have 
higher  standards  of  conduct  in  the  school  and  on  the  play- 
groimd? 

FOR  FURTHER  READING 

Dewey,  Moral  Principles  in  Education. 

Sharp,  Education  for  Character. 

Partridge,  Genetic  Philosophy  of  Education,  chapters  on 

"Moral  and  Religious  Education." 
Mumford,  The  Dawn  of  Character. 
Richardson,  The  ReHgious  Education  of  Adolescents. 
Alexander,  Boy  Training. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  SUBJECT  MATTER  OF  RELIGIOUS 
EDUCATION 

We  have  seen  in  an  earUer  chapter  how  the  subject 
matter  of  religious  education  must  be  selected  in  ac-      ^-r-  -> 
cordance  with  the  aims  we  would  have  it  accomplish   ^^^  ^., 
in  the  lives  of  our  pupils.    We  have  also  considered  in       ^  » 
separate  chapters  the  religious  knowledge  required,  the  ^'-^;" 
religious  attittides  demanded  and  the  practical  ap plica-   ^/'^' 
tions  of  religious  instruction  to  be  made  or  the  expression    -  ^' /^ 
to  be  sought  in  the  everyday  life.    Let  us  now  examine 
somewhat  more   completely   the  particular  phases  of 
subject  matter  which  should  be  used  to  attain  these 
ends — To  what  sources  shall  we  go  for  the  material 
for  the  rehgious  instruction  of  our  children?     What 
subject  matter  shall  we  put  into   the  curriculum  of 
rehgious  education?     This  is  a  question  of  supreme 
importance  to  the  individual,  to  the  church,  and  to 
civilization. 

SOURCES   OF  MATERIAL 

First  of  all  we  must  realize  that  the  sources  of  re- 
hgious material  are  almost  infinitely  broad  and  rich. 
They  are  much  broader  than  the  Bible.  I  would  not 
be  misunderstood  on  this  point.  I  conceive  the  Bible 
as  the  matchless  textbook  of  rehgion,  the  great  repos- 
itory of  spiritual  wisdom  through  the  ages.  It  is  the 
primary  source  to  which  we  must  go  for  material  for 
rehgious  instruction,  not  just  because  it  is  the  Bible, 

109 


no  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

but  because  its  truths  are  the  surest  guide  ever  formu- 
lated for  spiritual  development. 

Yet  human  experience  and  human  problems  are 
broader  than  the  Bible.  New  ages  bring  new  condi- 
tions and  new  needs.  Eternal  truths  may  take  on  new 
forms  to  meet  new  problems.  God  inspired  the  writers 
of  his  Word,  but  he  also  inspires  other  writers,  whose 
works  are  not  included  in  the  canon.  He  echoed  in 
the  voice  of  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah,  but  he  also  touches 
with  the  flame  of  eloquence  other  lips  than  those  of 
the  prophets.  He  spoke  to  the  child  Samuel,  but  he 
also  speaks  to-day  to  every  heart  that  will  hear  his 
voice.  He  flamed  from  the  burning  bush  for  Moses, 
but  in  like  manner  he  shines  from  every  glowing  sun- 
set for  those  whose  eyes  can  there  behold  his  glory. 

Breadth  and  richness  of  religious  material. — 
The  sources  of  material  available  for  the  religious  edu- 
cation of  childhood  are  therefore  as  broad  as  the  multi- 
form ways  in  which  God  speaks  to  men,  and  as  rich 
as  all  the  great  experiences  of  men  which  have  left 
their  impress  upon  civilization.  Besides  the  beautiful 
story  of  God  creating  the  earth,  we  have  the  wonderful 
miracle  of  constant  re-creation  going  on  before  our 
eyes  in  the  succession  of  generations  of  all  living  things. 

Besides  the  deathless  accounts  of  the  heroism  of 
such  men  as  Elijah,  Daniel,  and  Paul,  we  have  the 
immortal  deeds  of  Livingstone,  Taylor,  and  Luther. 
Besides  the  womanly  courage  and  strength  of  Esther 
and  Ruth,  we  have  the  matchless  devotion  of  Florence 
Nightingale,  Frances  Willard,  AHce  Freeman  Palmer, 
and  Jane  Addams.  Besides  the  stirring  poetry  of  the 
Bible,  and  its  appeahng  stories,  myths  and  parables, 
we  have  the  marvelous  treasure  house  of  religious 
literary  wealth  found  in   the  writings  of  Tennyson^ 


THE  SUBJECT  MATTER  iii 

Whittier,  Bryant,  Phillips  Brooks,  and  many  other 
writers. 

Material  to  be  drawn  from  many  sources. — 
The  material  for  religious  teaching  lying  ready  to  our 
hand  is  measureless  in  amount,  and  must  be  wisely 
chosen.  In  addition  to  material  from  the  Bible,  which 
always  must  be  the  center  and  foundation  of  the  re- 
ligious curriculum,  should  be  taken  other  material 
from  nature;  from  biography,  history,  and  life  itself; 
from  literature  and  story;  from  science  and  the  great 
world  of  objects  about  us;  from  music,  and  from  art. 
All  of  this  multiform  subject  matter  must  be  welded 
together  with  a  common  purpose,  and  so  permeated 
with  the  religious  motive  and  application  that  it  will 
touch  the  child's  spiritual  thought  and  feeling  at  many 
points  of  his  experience. 

At  no  moment,  however,  must  we  forget  that  our 
primary  purpose  is  not  simply  to  teach  the  child  stories, 
literature,  history,  or  science,  but  religion.  By  the 
proper  use  of  this  broader  field  of  material  religion 
may  be  given  a  new  and  more  practical  significance, 
and  the  Bible  itself  take  on  a  deeper  meaning  from 
finding  its  setting  among  realities  closely  related  to  the 
child's  daily  life. 

MATERIAL  FROM  THE  BIBLE 

The  very  nature  of  the  Bible  requires  that  we  make 
the  most  careful  selections  from  it  in  choosing  the 
material  for  religious  instruction  of  children.  Not  all 
parts  of  the  Bible  are  of  equal  value  as  educational 
material,  and  some  parts  of  it  have  no  place  in  the 
course  of  study  before  full  mental  development  has 
been  reached. 

How  we  came  by  the  Bible. — It  will  help  us  to 


112  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

understand  and  apply  these  principles  if  we  remember 
how  we  came  by  the  Bible.  First  of  all  is  the  fact  that 
the  Bible  grew  out  of  religion  and  the  hfe  of  the  church, 
and  not  religion  and  the  church  out  of  the  Bible.  The 
Bible  is  not  one  book,  as  many  think  of  it,  but  a  col- 
lection of  sixty-six  books,  which  happen  to  be  bound 
together.  In  fact,  all  sixty-six  of  these  books  are  now 
printed  and  bound  separately  by  the  American  Bible 
Society,  and  sold  at  a  penny  each.  These  sixty-six 
books  were  centuries  in  the  making,  and  they  came 
from  widely  separated  regions.  Different  ones  of  them 
were  originally  written  in  different  tongues — ^Hebrew, 
Greek,  and  Aramaic. 

The  earlier  Christians  had,  of  course,  only  the  scrip- 
tures of  the  Old  Testament.  It  was  nearly  four  hundred 
years  after  Christ  had  lived  on  earth  before  we  had 
a  list  of  the  New  Testament  books  such  as  our  Bible 
now  contains.  In  the  middle  of  the  second  century 
only  about  half  of  the  present  New  Testament  was  in 
use  as  a  part  of  the  Scriptures.  Some  of  the  books 
which  we  now  include  were  at  one  time  or  another 
omitted  by  the  Christian  scholars,  and  several  books 
were  at  one  time  accorded  a  place  which  are  not  now 
accepted  as  a  part  of  the  Bible.  The  authorship  of 
a  considerable  number  of  the  books  of  the  Bible  is 
unknown,  and  even  the  exact  period  to  which  they 
belong  is  uncertain. 

The  different  writers  wrote  with  different  purposes 
— one  was  a  historian;  another  a  poet;  another,  as  Paul, 
a  theologian;  another  a  preacher;  another  a  teller  of 
stories  and  myths,  or  a  user  of  parables.  Paul  wrote 
his  letters  to  local  churches  or  to  individuals,  to  answer 
immediate  questions  or  meet  definite  conditions  and 
needs.    Jesus  left  no  written  word,  so  far  as  we  know, 


THE  SUBJECT  MATTER  113 

and  the  first  written  accounts  we  have  of  his  life  and 
work  were  begun  forty  or  fifty  years  after  his  death. 

The  problem  of  selecting  Bible  material  adapted 
to  children. — The  Bible  was  therefore  a  slow  growth. 
It  did  not  take  its  form  in  accordance  with  any  par- 
ticular or  definite  plan.  It  never  was  meant  as  a  con- 
nected, organized  textbook,  to  be  studied  in  the  same 
serial  and  continuous  order  as  other  books.  It  was  not 
written  originally  for  children,  but  for  adults  to  read. 

Its  enduring  quality  proves  that  the  writers  of  the 
Bible  Kved  close  to  the  heart  and  thought  of  God, 
and  were  therefore  inspired  of  him.  But  we  can  grant 
this  and  still  feel  free  to  select  from  its  lessons  and 
truths  the  ones  that  are  most  directly  fitted  to  meet 
the  needs  of  our  children  as  we  train  them  in  religion. 
We  can  love  and  prize  the  Bible  for  all  that  it  means 
and  has  meant  to  the  world,  and  yet  treat  it  as  a 
means  and  not  an  end  in  itself.  We  can  believe  in  its 
truth  and  inspiration,  and  still  leave  out  of  the  lessons 
we  give  our  children  the  sections  which  contain  little 
of  interest  or  significance  for  the  child's  life,  or  mat- 
ter which  is  beyond  his  grasp  and  understanding. 

Material  which  may  be  omitted. — This  point  of 
view  implies  the  omission,  at  least  from  the  earlier 
part  of  tie  child's  religious  education,  of  much  material 
from  different  parts  of  the  Bible;  these  irrelevant  sec- 
tions or  material  not  suited  to  the  understanding  of 
childhood  may  remain  for  adult  study. 

For  example,  we  may  leave  out  such  matter  as  the 
following:  The  detailed  account  of  the  old  Hebrew 
law  as  given  in  Leviticus;  much  of  the  Hebrew  history 
which  has  no  direct  bearing  on  the  understanding  of 
tb^r  religion;  details  of  the  institution  of  the  passover, 
and  other  ecclesiastical  arrangements;  the  philosophy 


114  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

of  the  book  of  Job;  genealogies  which  have  no  especial 
significance  nor  interest;  the  succession  of  judges  and 
kings;  dates  and  chronological  sequences  of  no  par- 
ticular importance;  any  stories  or  matter  clearly  meant 
to  be  understood  as  allegory  or  myth,  but  which  the 
child  would  misunderstand,  or  take  as  literal  and  so 
get  a  mistaken  point  of  view  which  later  would  have 
to  be  corrected;  the  theology  of  Paul  as  set  forth  in 
his  letters;  matter  which  shows  a  lower  state  of  moral- 
ity than  that  on  which  we  live;  and  such  other  matter 
as  does  not  have  some  direct  and  discoverable  relation 
to  the  religious  knowledge,  attitudes,  and  applications 
which  should  result  from  the  study. 

After  all  such  material  of  doubtful  value  to  the 
child  has  been  omitted,  there  still  remains  an  abundance 
of  rich,  inspiring,  and  helpful  subject  matter. 

The  principle  on  which  to  select  material  from  the 
Bible  is  clear:  Know  what  the  child  is  ready  for  in  his 
grasp  and  understanding;  know  what  he  needs  to  stim- 
ulate his  religious  imagination  and  feeling  and  further 
his  moral  and  religious  development.  Then  choose 
the  material  accordingly. 

Bible  material  for  earlier  childhood. — For  the  pe- 
riod of  earlier  childhood  (ages  three  or  four  to  eight  or 
nine)  we  shall  need  to  omit  all  such  material  as  deals 
with  the  broader  and  deeper  theory  of  religion.  This 
is  not  the  time  to  teach  the  child  the  significance  of 
the  atonement,  the  mystery  of  regeneration,  the  power 
of  faith,  nor  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  Those  sections 
of  the  Bible  which  deal  with  such  far-reaching  concepts 
as  these  must  wait  for  later  age  and  fuller  development. 

The  child  is  now  ready  to  understand  about  God  as 
the  Creator  of  the  earth  and  of  man;  he  is  ready  to 
comprehend  God  as  Father  and  Friend,  and  Jesus  as 


THE  SUBJECT  MATTER  115 

Brother  and  Helper;  he  is  ready  to  learn  lessons  of 
obedience  to  God,  and  of  being  sorry  when  he  has  done 
wrong;  he  is  therefore  ready  to  understand  forgive- 
ness; he  is  ready  to  learn  all  lessons  of  kindliness,  truth- 
fulness, and  honesty,  and  of  courage;  he  is  ready  to 
learn  to  pray,  and  to  thank  God  for  his  care  and  kind- 
liness. The  Bible  material  taught  the  child  should 
therefore  center  upon  these  things.  The  simple,  beau- 
tiful story  of  the  creation;  stories  of  God's  love,  pro- 
vision, and  protection  and  of  Christ's  care  for  children; 
incidents  of  heroic  obedience  and  of  God's  punishment 
of  disobedience;  stories  of  forgiveness  following  wrong- 
doing and  repentance;  stories  of  courage  and  strength 
under  temptation  to  do  wrong;  lessons  upon  prayer 
and  praise  and  thanksgiving — this  is  the  kind  of  ma- 
terial from  the  Bible  which  we  should  give  our  children 
of  this  younger  age. 

The  greater  part  of  the  material  for  this  stage  of 
instruction  will  come  from  the  Old  Testament,  and 
will  make  the  child  familiar  with  the  childhood  of  Moses, 
Samuel,  Joseph,  David,  and  other  such  characters  as 
possess  an  especial  appeal  to  the  child's  sympathy  and 
imagination.  The  New  Testament  must  be  drawn 
upon  for  the  material  bearing  upon  the  birth  and  child- 
hood of  Jesus. 

Material  for  later  childhood. — In  the  period  of  later 
childhood  (ages  eight  or  nine  to  twelve  or  thirteen)  the 
child  is  still  unready  for  the  more  difficult  and  doctrinal 
parts  of  the  Scriptures.  Most  of  the  impulses  of  earher 
childhood  still  continue,  even  if  in  modified  form. 
Types  of  Bible  material  adapted  to  the  earlier  years, 
therefore,  still  can  be  used  to  advantage. 

A  marked  characteristic  of  this  period,  however,  is 
the  tendency  to  hero  worship  and  to  be  influenced  by 


r 


ii6  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

the  ideals  found  in  those  who  are  loved  and  admired. 
This  is  the  time,  therefore,  to  bring  to  the  child  the 
splendid  example  and  inspiration  of  the  great  Bible 
characters.  The  life  and  work  of  Moses,  the  story  of 
Joseph  and  his  triumph  over  discouragements  and 
difficulties,  the  stern  integrity  and  courage  of  Elijah 
and  the  other  prophets,  the  beautiful  stories  of  Ruth, 
Esther,  Miriam,  and  Rachel,  but  above  all  the  story 
of  Jesus — the  account  of  these  lives  will  minister  to 
the  child's  impulse  to  hero  worship  and  at  the  same 
time  teach  him  some  of  the  most  valuable  lessons  in 
rehgion. 

During  later  childhood  the  sense  of  personal  respon- 
sibility for  conduct  is  developing,  and  the  compre- 
hension of  the  meaning  of  wrongdoing  and  sin.  This 
is  the  time,  therefore,  to  bring  in  lessons  from  the  Bible 
showing  the  results  of  sin  and  disobedience  to  God, 
and  the  necessity  for  repentance  and  prayer  for  for- 
giveness. During  this  period  also,  while  the  social 
interests  are  not  yet  at  their  highest,  the  narrow  selfish- 
ness of  earlier  childhood  should  be  giving  way  to  a 
more  generous  and  social  attitude,  and  a  sense  of  respon- 
sibility for  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  others. 

To  meet  the  needs  of  the  growing  nature  at  this 
point  many  lessons  should  be  provided  containing  sug- 
gestions and  inspiration  from  high  examples  of  self- 
forge  tfulness,  sacrifice,  and  service  as  found  in  the  life 
of  Jesus,  Paul,  and  many  others  from  the  Old  and  the 
New  Testament.  The  child's  growing  acquaintance 
with  the  world  about  him  and  his  study  of  nature  in 
the  day  schools  prepare  him  for  still  further  deepening 
his  realization  of  God  beneficently  at  work  in  the  ma- 
terial universe.  Abundant  material  may  be  found  in 
the  Bible  to  deepen  and  strengthen  the  learner's  love 


THE  SUBJECT  MATTER  n; 

and  appreciation  of  the  beautiful  and  good  in  the  physical 
world. 

Material  for  adolescence. — The  adolescent  period 
(ages  twelve  or  thirteen  to  twenty  or  twenty-two)  is 
the  transition  stage  from  childhood  to  maturity.  The 
broader,  deeper,  and  more  permanent  interests  are  now 
developing,  and  character  is  taking  its  permanent 
trend.  Conduct,  choice,  and  decision  are  becoming 
more  personal  and  less  dependent  on  others.  A  new 
sense  of  seK  is  developing,  and  deeper  recognition  of 
individual  responsibility  is  growing. 

It  is  all-important  that  at  this  time  the  Bible  material 
should  furnish  the  most  of  inspiration  and  guidance 
possible.  The  life  and  service  of  Jesus  will  now  exert 
its  fullest  appeal,  and  should  be  studied  in  detail.  The 
work  and  service  of  Paul  and  of  the  apostles  in  found- 
ing the  early  church  will  fire  the  imagination  and  quicken 
the  sense  of  the  world's  need  of  great  lives.  The  ethical 
teachings  of  the  Bible  should  now  be  made  prominent, 
and  should  be  made  effective  in  shaping  the  ideals  of 
personal  and  of  social  conduct  which  are  crystallizing. 
The  development  of  the  Hebrew  religion,  with  its  ethical 
teaching,  and  the  moral  quaHty  of  the  Christian  religion 
are  now  fruitful  matter  for  study. 

During  the  later  part  of  adolescence  the  youth  is 
ready  to  consider  biblical  matter  that  throws  light 
on  the  deeper  meaning  of  sin,  of  redemption,  of  re- 
pentance, of  forgiveness,  of  regeneration,  and  other 
such  vital  concepts  from  our  religion.  The  simplest 
and  least  controversial  interpretations — that  is,  the 
broader  and  more  significant  meanings — should  be  pre- 
sented, and  not  the  overspeculative  and  disputed  inter- 
pretations, which  are  almost  certain  to  lead  to  mental 
and  perhaps  spiritual  disturbance  and  even  doubt. 


ii8  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

The  guiding  principle. — For  whatever  age  or  stage  of 
the  child's  development  we  are  responsible,  we  will 
follow  the  same  principle.  Because  we  want  to  cul- 
tivate in  the  child  a  deep  and  continuing  interest  in 
the  Bible  and  the  things  for  which  it  stands,  we  will 
seek  always  to  bring  to  him  such  material  as  will  appeal 
to  his  interest,  stir  his  imagination,  and  quicken  his 
sense  of  spiritual  values.  Since  we  desire  to  influence 
the  learner's  deeds  and  shape  his  conduct  through  our 
teaching,  we  will  present  to  him  those  lessons  from  the 
Bible  which  are  most  naturally  and  inevitably  trans- 
lated into  daily  Hving.  First  we  will  know  what  im- 
pression we  seek  to  make  or  what  application  we  hope 
to  secure,  and  then  wisely  choose  from  the  rich  Bible 
sources  the  material  which  will  most  surely  accomplish 
this  end. 

STORY  MATERIAL 

The  story  is  the  chief  and  most  efifective  means  of 
teaching  the  younger  child  religion,  nor  does  the  appeal 
of  the  story  form  of  expressing  truth  lose  its  charm  for 
those  of  older  years.  Lessons  incomprehensible  if  put 
into  formal  precept  can  be  readily  understood  by  the 
child  if  made  a  part  of  life  and  action,  and  the  story 
does  just  this.  It  shows  virtue  being  lived;  goodness 
proving  itself;  strength,  courage,  and  gentleness  ex- 
pressing themselves  in  practice;  and  selfishness,  ugli- 
ness, and  wrong  revealing  their  unlovely  quality.  Taught 
in  the  story  way,  the  lesson  is  so  plain  that  even  the  child 
cannot  miss  it. 

The  story  also  appeals  to  the  child's  imagination, 
which  is  so  ready  for  use  and  so  vivid,  and  which  it 
is  so  necessary  to  employ  upon  good  material  in  order 
to  safeguard  its  possessor  from  u^ing  it  in  harmful 


THE  SUBJECT  MATTER  119 

ways.  Long  before  the  child  has  come  to  the  age  of 
understanding  reasoned  truth,  therefore,  he  may  well 
have  implanted  in  his  mind  many  of  the  deepest  and  most 
beautiful  religious  truths  which  will  ever  come  to  him. 

The  Old  Testament  rich  in  story  material. — 
The  wonderful  religious  and  ethical  teachings  of  the 
Old  Testament  belong  to  a  child-nation,  and  were 
written  by  men  who  were  in  freshness  of  heart  and  in 
picturesqueness  and  simplicity  of  thought  essentially 
child-men;  hence  these  teachings  are  in  large  part 
written  in  the  form  of  story,  of  legend,  of  allegory, 
of  myth,  of  vivid  picture  and  of  unrimed  poetry.  It  is 
this  quality  which  makes  the  material  so  suitable  to 
the  child.  The  deeper  meanings  of  the  story  do  not 
have  to  be  explained,  even  to  the  young  child;  he  grasps 
them,  not  all  at  once,  but  slowly  and  surely  as  the  story 
is  told  and  retold  to  him.  If  the  story  is  properly  told, 
the  child  does  not  have  to  be  taught  that  the  Bible 
myth  or  legend  is  myth  or  legend;  he  accepts  it  as  such, 
not  troubhng  to  analyze  or  explain,  but  unconsciously 
appropriating  such  iimer  meaning  as  his  experience 
makes  possible,  and  building  the  lesson  into  the  struc- 
ture of  his  growing  nature. 

If  full  advantage  is  taken  of  the  story  as  a  means  of 
rehgious  teaching,  the  grounding  of  the  child  in  the 
fundamental  concepts  and  attitudes  of  rehgion  can 
be  accomplished  with  certainty  and  effectiveness  almost 
before  the  age  for  really  formal  instruction  has  come. 

The  ethical  qtxahty  alone  not  enough  in  stories. 
— Many  stories  of  highest  religious  value  are  available 
from  other  sources  than  the  Bible,  yet  no  other  stories 
can  ever  wholly  take  the  place  of  the  Bible  stories. 
For  the  Bible  stories  possess  one  essential  quality 
lacking  in  stories  from  other  sources;  the  Bible  stories 


I20  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

are  saturated  with  God.  And  this  is  an  element  wholly 
vital  to  the  child's  instruction  in  religion. 

We  cannot  teach  the  child  religion  on  the  basis  of 
ethics  alone,  necessary  as  morality  is  to  life.  We  can- 
not help  the  child  to  spiritual  growth  and  the  conscious- 
ness of  God  in  his  life  without  having  the  matter  we 
teach  him  permeated  and  made  aUve  with  the  spirit 
and  presence  of  God  in  it.  Nor  is  there  the  least  diffi- 
culty for  the  child  to  understand  God  in  the  stories. 
The  child,  like  the  Hebrews  themselves,  does  not  feel 
any  necessity  of  explaining  or  accounting  for  God, 
but  readily  and  naturally  accepts  him  and  the  part 
he  plays  in  our  affairs  as  a  matter  of  course. 

Stories  from  other  than  Bible  soiirces. — But 
once  a  sufficient  proportion  of  Bible  stories  is  provided 
for,  stories  should  be  freely  drawn  from  other  fields. 
An  abundance  of  rich  material  possessing  true  religious 
worth  can  be  found  in  the  myths,  legends,  folk  lore, 
and  heroic  tales  of  many  literatures.  These  are  a 
treasure  house  with  which  every  teacher  of  children 
should  be  familiar;  nor  is  the  task  a  burdensome  one, 
for  much  of  this  material  holds  a  value  and  charm 
even  for  the  older  ones  of  us. 

Later  writers  have  enriched  the  fund  of  material 
available  for  children  by  treating  many  of  the  aspects 
of  nature  in  story  form,  thereby  opening  up  to  the 
mind  and  heart  of  the  child  something  of  the  meaning 
and  beauty  of  the  physical  world,  and  showing  God 
as  the  giver  of  many  good  gifts  in  this  realm  of  our 
lives.  There  are  also  available  the  stories  of  history, 
and  of  the  real  men  and  women  whose  lives  have  blessed 
our  own  or  other  times,  and  whose  deeds  and  achieve- 
ments will  appeal  to  the  imagination  and  stir  the  ideals 
of  youth. 


THE  SUBJECT  MATTER  121 

The  teacher  as  a  story  teller. — ^The  successful 
teacher  of  religion  must  therefore  possess  the  art  which 
will  enable  him  to  use  the  story  as  one  of  the  chief 
forms  of  material  in  his  instruction.  He  must  know 
the  stories.  He  must  be  able  to  tell  them  interestingly. 
The  story  loses  half  of  its  effectiveness  if  it  must  be 
read  to  the  child,  but  it  may  lose  in  similar  proportion 
if  it  is  haltingly  or  ineffectively  told.  It  is  not  necessary, 
at  least  for  the  younger  children,  to  use  a  large  number 
of  stories.  In  fact,  there  is  positive  disadvantage  in 
attempting  to  employ  so  many  stories  that  the  child 
does  not  become  wholly  famiKar  with  each  separate 
one.  Children  do  not  tire  of  the  stories  they  like; 
indeed,  their  love  for  a  story  increases  as  they  come 
to  know  it  well,  and  they  will  demand  to  have  the  same 
story  told  over  and  over  in  preference  to  a  new  one. 

The  use  of  the  story  with  older  children. — A 
mistake  has  been  made  in  not  a  few  of  the  Sunday 
school  lesson  series  in  sharply  reducing  the  story  ma- 
terial for  all  ages  above  the  primary  grades.  It  must 
be  remembered  that  while  the  older  child  has  more 
power  to  grasp  and  understand  abstract  lessons  than 
the  younger  child,  there  is  no  age  or  stage  of  develop- 
ment at  which  the  story  and  the  concrete  illustration 
are  not  an  attractive  and  effective  mode  of  teaching. 
Surely,  all  through  the  junior  and  intermediate  grades 
the  story  should  be  one  of  the  chief  forms  of  material 
for  religious  instruction,  while  for  adolescents  stories 
will  still  be  far  from  negligible. 

The  principles  of  story-using,  then,  are  clear  in  the 
teaching  of  religion:  Make  the  story  one  of  the  chief 
instruments  of  instnu:tion;  see  that  it  is  charged  with 
religious  and  moral  value;  make  sure  it  is  adapted  to  the 
age  of  the  learner,  and  that  it  is  well  told;  for  younger 


122  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

children  use  few  stories  frequently  repeated  until  they 
are  well  htown;  do  not  insist  t}iat  the  child  sliall  at  first 
grasp  the  deeper  meanings  of  the  story,  make  sure  of 
interest  and  enjoyment,  and  the  meaning  will  come  later. 

MATERIAL  FROM  NATURE 

The  child's  spontaneous  love  of  nature  and  ready- 
response  to  the  world  of  objects  about  him  open  up 
rich  sources  of  material  for  religious  instruction.  God 
who  creates  the  beautiful  flowers,  who  causes  the  breezes 
to  blow,  who  carpets  the  earth  with  green,  who  paints 
the  autunm  hillside  with  glowing  color,  who  directs 
the  coming  and  going  of  the  seasons,  who  tells  the 
buds  when  to  swell  and  the  leaves  to  unfold,  who  directs 
the  sparrow  in  its  flight  and  the  bee  in  its  search,  who 
is  in  the  song  of  the  birds  and  the  whisper  of  the  leaves, 
who  sends  his  rain  and  makes  the  thunder  roll — this 
God  can  be  brought,  through  the  medium  of  nature's 
forms,  very  near  to  the  child.  And  the  love  and  appre- 
ciation which  the  child  lavishes  on  the  dear  and  beau- 
tiful things  about  him  will  extend  naturally  and  with- 
out trouble  of  comprehension  to  their  Creator. 

Natxire  material  useful  for  all  ages. — Most  of  the 
lesson  material  now  supplied  for  our  Sunday  schools 
use  a  considerable  amount  of  nature  material  in  the 
earlier  grades,  but  some  important  lesson  series  omit 
most  or  all  nature  material  from  the  junior  depart- 
ment on.  This  is  a  serious  mistake.  All  through  child- 
hood and  youth  the  pupil  is  continuing  in  the  public 
school  his  study  of  nature  and  its  laws.  Along  with 
this  broadening  of  knowledge  of  the  natural  world  should 
be  the  deepening  of  appreciation  of  its  spiritual  mean- 
ing, and  the  inspiration  to  praise  and  worship  which 
comes  from  it.    One  does  not,  or  at  least  should  not, 


THE  SUBJECT  MATTER  123 

at  any  age  outgrow  his  response  to  the  wonders  and 
beauties  which  nature  unfolds  before  him  who  has 
eyes  to  see  its  inner  meaning.  None  can  afford  to  lose 
the  simple,  untutored  awe  with  which  children  and 
primitive  men  look  out  upon  the  world. 

Carlyle,  recognizing  this  truth,  exclaims:  "This 
green,  flowery,  rock-built  earth,  the  trees,  the  moun- 
tains, rivers,  many-sounding  seas;  that  great  deep  sea 
of  azure  that  swims  overhead;  the  winds  sweeping 
through  it;  the  black  cloud  fashioning  itself  together, 
now  pouring  out  fire,  now  hail  and  rain;  what  is  it? 
Aye,  what?  ...  An  unspeakable,  godlike  thing,  toward 
which  the  best  attitude  for  us,  after  never  so  much 
science,  is  awe,  devout  prostration,  and  humility  of 
soul;  worship,  if  not  in  words,  then  in  silence." 

In  the  same  spirit  Max  Muller  exhorts  us:  "Look 
at  the  dawn,  and  forget  fpr  a  moment  your  astronomy; 
and  I  ask  you  whether,  when  the  dark  veil  of  night 
is  slowly  lifted,  and  the  air  becomes  transparent  and 
alive,  and  light  streams  forth  you  know  not  whence, 
you  would  not  feel  that  your  eye  were  looking  into  the 
very  eye  of  the  Infinite?"  And  Emerson  reminds  us: 
"If  the  stars  should  appear  one  night  in  a  thousand 
years,  how  would  men  believe  and  adore;  and  preserve 
for  many  generations  the  remembrance  of  the  city  of 
God  which  had  been  shown!  But  every  night  come 
out  these  envoys  of  beauty,  and  light  the  universe  with 
their  admonishing  smile." 

When,  then,  shall  we  have  become  too  far  removed 
from  childhood  to  be  beyond  the  appeal  of  nature  to 
our  souls?  WTien  shall  we  cease  to  "hold  communion 
with  her  visible  forms,"  and  to  find  in  them  one  of  the 
many  avenues  which  God  has  left  open  for  us  to  use 
in  approaching  him!    What  teacher  of  us  will  dare  to 


124  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

leave  out  of  his  instruction  at  any  stage  of  the  child's 
development  the  beneficent  and  wonder-working  God  of 
nature  as  he  smiles  his  benediction  upon  us  from  the 
myriad  common  things  around  us! 

MATERIAL  FROM  HISTORY  AND  BIOGRAPHY 

God  is  to  be  found  in  the  Kves  of  nations  and  of 
men  not  less  than  in  nature,  and  the  evidences  and 
effects  of  his  presence  there  should  be  taught  our  chil- 
dren. The  spirit  which  Jesus  revealed  in  his  life  upon 
earth  is  exemplified  in  the  lives  of  many  of  his  followers 
who  joyously  spend  themselves  in  the  service  of  others. 
Men  who  set  the  standard  for  manliness,  and  women 
whose  character  and  fives  are  the  best  definition  of 
womanliness,  are  as  much  a  revelation  of  God's  work 
and  power  as  a  constellation  of  stars  or  the  bloom  of 
the  rose. 

The  example  of  great  lives. — So,  along  with  the 
great  Bible  characters  we  will  bring  to  the  child  the 
men  and  women  of  other  generations.  We  will  bring 
to  him  the  great  souls  who,  as  missionaries,  have  carried 
the  Light  to  those  who  sit  in  darkness;  those  who  in 
honesty  and  integrity  of  purpose  have  served  as  leaders 
of  nations  or  armies  or  movements  to  the  blessing  of 
humanity;  those  who,  with  the  love  of  God  in  their 
hearts,  have  gone  out  as  ministers,  teachers,  writers 
of  books,  singers  of  songs,  makers  of  pictures,  healers 
of  sickness;  or  those  who,  in  any  field  of  toil  or  service, 
have  given  the  cup  of  cold  water  in  the  name  of  the 
Master. 

And  we  will  bring  to  the  child  the  story  of  the  nations, 
showing  him  one  people  growing  in  strength,  power, 
and  happiness  while  following  God's  plan  of  human 
justice,  mercy,  and  kindness;  and  another  going  down 


THE  SUBJECT  MATTER  125 

to  destruction,  its  very  name  and  speech  forgotten, 
because  it  became  arrogant  and  perverse  and  forgot 
the  ways  of  righteousness.  At  the  proper  time  in  their 
development  we  will  bring  to  our  pupils  the  life  and 
problems  of  the  present — the  wrongs  that  need  to  be 
righted,  the  causes  that  need  to  be  defended  and  car- 
ried through  to  victory,  the  evil  that  needs  to  be  sup- 
pressed, the  work  of  Christ  and  the  church  which  is 
awaiting  workers.  Thus  shall  we  seek  to  bring  the 
challenge  of  life  itseK  to  those  we  teach. 

PICTURE  MATERIAL 

No  discussion  of  the  curriculum  can  ignore  the  use 
of  pictures  as  teaching  material.  Teachers  of  rehgion 
have  long  recognized  the  value  of  visual  instruction, 
and  every  lesson  series  now  has  its  full  quota  of  picture 
cards  and  other  forms  of  pictorial  material. 

In  this  picture  material  may  roughly  be  distinguished  ^    .^ 

three  great  types:    (i)  the  symbolical  picture;  (2)  the  'Hj-^-^*^ 

rather  formal  picture,  often  badly  conceived  and  ex- 
ecuted, always  dealing  with  bibHcal  characters  or  inci- 
dents; and  (3)  the  more  universalized  type  drawn  from  ,^  ,.CiJ'^^  A 
every  field  of  pictorial  art,  representing  not  only  biblical  '  i 

personages  and  events,  but  also  typif)dng  aesthetic 
and  moral  values  of  every  range  adapted  to  the  under- 
standing and  appreciation  of  the  child. 

Types  of  pictures. — Representative  of  the  first,  or 
symbolical,  pictorial  type  are  found  the  more  or  less 
crude  pen  drawings  of  such  things  as  the  heart  with  a 
key,  an  open  Bible  with  a  torch  beside  it,  tombstone- 
like drawings  representing  the  Tables  of  the  Law  or 
three  interlocking  circles  representing  the  Trinity,  etc. 

Not  only  are  all  these  abstract  concepts  beyond  the 
grasp  or  need  of  the  child  at  the  age  when  the  pictures 


^y^A^. 


126  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

are  represented,  but  the  symbols  are  in  no  degree  sug- 
gestive to  the  chQd  of  the  lesson  intended;  they  are 
devoid  of  meaning,  without  interest,  possess  no  artistic 
value,  and  lack  all  teaching  significance.  Such  ma- 
terial should  be  discarded,  and  better  pictures  provided. 

The  second  type  of  pictures,  or  those  deaHng  with 
Bibie  topics,  contain  teaching  power,  but  should  be 
merged  with  the  third,  or  true  art,  type.  That  is  to 
say,  biblical  subjects,  moral  lessons,  and  inspiring  ideals 
should  be  treated  by  triie  artists  and  made  a  part  of  the 
religious  curriculum  for  childhood.  Wherever  suitable 
masterpieces  executed  by  great  artists  can  be  found, 
copies  should  be  made  available  for  teaching  religion. 
Hundreds  of  such  pictures  hang  in  our  art  galleries, 
and  not  a  few  of  them  have  already  been  incorporated 
into  several  excellent  series  for  the  Sunday  school. 

Further,  the  pictures  offered  children  should  be  as 
carefully  selected  with  reference  to  what  they  are  to 
teach,  and  should  be  as  carefully  graded  to  meet  the 
age,  interests,  and  appreciations  of  the  child  as  are 
5Dther  forms  of  curriculum  material.  Some  otherwise 
excellent  picture  sets  of  recent  publication  lose  the 
greater  part  of  their  usefulness  as  teaching  helps  through 
the  lack  of  this  adaptation. 

MUSIC  IN  THE  CURRICULUM 

Music  as  a  part  of  the  curriculum  of  reHgious  edu- 
cation offers  a  peculiarly  difficult  problem.  No  other 
form  of  expression  can  take  the  place  of  music  in  creat- 
ing a  spirit  of  reverence  and  devotion,  or  in  inducing 
an  attitude  of  worship  and  inspiring  reHgious  feeling 
and  emotion.  Children  ought  to  sing  much  both  in 
the  church  school  and  in  their  worship  at  home. 

Yet  most  of  our  hymns  have  been  written  for  adults, 


THE  SUBJECT  MATTER  127 

and  most  of  the  music  is  better  adapted  to  adult  sing- 
ing than  to  the  singing  of  children.  The  ragtime  hymns 
which  find  a  place  in  many  Sunday  school  exercises 
need  only  to  be  mentioned  to  be  condemned.  On  the 
other  hand,  many  of  the  finest  hymns  of  the  church  are 
beyond  the  grasp  of  the  child  in  sentiment  and  beyond 
his  ability  in  music.  The  church  seriously  needs  a 
revival  of  religious  hymnology  for  children.  In  the 
meantime  the  greatest  care  should  be  used  to  select 
hymns  for  children's  singing  which  possess  as  fully  as 
may  be  three  requisites:  (i)  music  adapted  to  the 
child's  capacity,  (2)  music  that  is  worthy,  interesting 
and  devotional,  and  (3)  words  within  the  child's  under- 
standing and  interest,  and  suitable  in  sentiment. 

1.  Many  persons  think  that  teaching  the  child  religion 
and  teaching  him  the  Bible  are  precisely  the  same  thing. 
Do  you  think  it  is  possible  to  teach  the  child  parts  of  the 
Bible  without  securing  for  him  spiritual  development  from 
the  process?  Is  it  possible  to  make  the  Bible  itself  mean 
more  to  the  child  by  supplementing  it  with  material  from 
other  sources? 

2.  Do  you  ever  find  lessons  provided  for  your  class 
which  are  not  adapted  to  their  age  and  understanding? 
If  so,  do  you  feel  free  to  supplement  or  substitute  with  ma- 
terial which  meets  their  needs?  Do  you  have  sufficient 
command  of  the  material  of  the  Bible  and  other  sources 
so  that  you  can  do  this  successfully? 

3.  Do  you  know  a  considerable  number  of  stories 
adapted  to  the  age  of  your  pupils?  Are  you  constantly 
adding  to  your  list  ?  Are  you  a  good  story  teller?  Are  you 
stud3dng  to  improve  in  this  line  ?  Even  if  your  lesson  ma- 
terial does  not  provide  stories,  do  you  bring  such  material 
in  for  your  class  ? 

4.  What  use  do  you  make  of  nature  in  the  teaching  of 
religion  ?   President  Hall  thinks  that  nature  material  is  one 


128  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

of  the  best  sources  of  religious  instruction.  Do  you  agree 
with  him?  Are  you  sufficiently  in  love  with  natiire  your- 
self, and  sufficiently  acquainted  with  natiire  so  that  you 
can  successfully  use  the  nature  motive  in  your  teaching? 

5.  Do  you  constantly  make  use  of  stories  and  illustra- 
tions from  the  lives  of  great  men  and  women  in  your  teach- 
ing? Do  you  take  a  reasonable  proportion  of  these  from 
contemporary  life  ?  Do  you  bring  in  stories  of  fine  actions 
by  boys  and  girls?  What  use  have  you  been  making  of 
events  in  the  lives  of  nations  in  your  teaching?  Are  you 
reading  and  studying  to  become  more  fully  prepared  to  use 
this  type  of  material? 

FOR  FURTHER  READING 

Houghton,  Telling  Bible  Stories. 

Raymont,  The  Use  of  the  Bible  in  the  Education  of  the 

Young. 
Bruce,  The  Training  of  the  Twelve. 
Drake,  Problems  of  Religion,  chapter  IX. 
Atheam,  The  Church  School. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  MATERIAL 

The  organization  of  material  to  adapt  it  to  the 
learner's  mind  and  arrange  it  for  the  teacher's  use  in 
instruction  is  hardly  less  important  than  choosing  the 
subject  matter  itself.  By  organization  is  meant  the 
plan,  order,  or  arrangement  by  which  the  different 
sections  of  material  are  made  ready  for  presentation 
to  the  child.  The  problems  of  organization  may  apply 
either  (i)  to  the  curriculum  as  a  whole,  or  (2)  to  any 
particular  section  of  it  used  for  a  day's  lesson. 

It  is  possible  to  distinguish  four  different  types  of 
organization  commonly  used  in  preparing  material  for 
religious  instruction: 

1.  The  haphazard,  in  which  there  is  no  definite  plan 
or  order,  no  thread  of  purpose  or  relationship  uniting 
the  parts,  no  guiding  principle  determining  the  order 
and  sequence. 

2.  The  logical,  in  which  the  nature  and  relationships 
of  the  material  itself  determine  the  plan  and  order,  the 
question  of  ease  and  effectiveness  in  learning  being 
secondary  or  not  considered. 

3.  The  chronological,  applicable  especially  to  his- 
torical material,  in  which  the  events,  characters,  and 
facts  are  taken  up  in  the  order  of  the  time  of  their 
appearance  and  their  sequence  in  the  entire  situation 
or  account. 

4.  The  psychological,  in  which  the  first  and  most 
important  question  is  the  most  natural  and  favorable 
mode  of  approach  for  the  learner — how  the  material 

129 


I30  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

shall  be  planned  and  arranged  to  suit  his  power  and 
grasp,  appeal  to  his  interest,  and  relate  itself  to  his 
actual  needs  and  experience. 

TYPES   OF  ORGAMZATION 

Haphazard  organization. — The  haphazard  plan, 
which  is  really  no  plan  at  all,  is,  of  course,  wholly  inde- 
fensible. No  teacher  has  a  right  to  go  before  lis  class 
with  his  material  in  so  nebulous  a  state  that  it  lacks 
coordination  and  purpose.  It  is  this  that  results  in 
chance  and  unrelated  questions,  irrelevant  discussions, 
and  fruitless  wanderings  without  definite  purpose  over 
the  field  of  the  lesson,  such  as  may  sometimes  be  seen 
m  church  classes. 

The  outcome  of  such  instruction  hardly  can  be  more 
than  occasional  disconnected  scraps  of  information,  or 
fragmentary  impressions  which  are  never  gathered  up 
and  bound  together  into  completed  ideals  and  convic- 
tions. The  haphazard  type  of  organization  may  result 
from  incompetence,  indifference,  and  failure  to  prepare, 
or  from  taking  a  ready-made  and  poorly  prepared  plan 
from  the  "lesson  helps"  which  is  not  adapted  to  our 
class.  Pity  the  child  assigned  to  a  class  presided  over 
by  a  teacher  who  esteems  his  privilege  so  Hghtly  as  not 
to  make  ready  for  his  task  by  careful  planning. 

Logical  organization. — In  the  logical  arrangement  of 
material,  the  first  care  is  not  given  to  planning  it  in 
the  most  favorable  way  for  the  one  who  studies  and 
learns  it,  but,  rather,  to  fit  together  the  different  parts 
of  the  subject  matter  in  the  way  best  suited  to  its  log- 
ical relationships.  The  child  is  pedagogically  ignored; 
the  material  receives  primary  consideration.  The  log- 
ical order  of  material  fits  the  mind  of  the  adult,  the 
scholar,  the  espert,  the  master  in  his  field  of  knowl- 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  MATERIAL     131 

edge;  it  begins  with  the  most  general  and  abstract 
truths.  But  the  child  naturally  starts  with  the  par- 
ticular and  the  concrete.  It  gives  rules,  principles, 
definitions,  while  the  child  asks  for  illustrations,  appli- 
cations, real  instances,  and  actual  cases. 

The  logical  method  is  adapted  to  the  trained  explorer 
in  the  fields  of  learning,  to  one  who  has  been  over  the 
ground  and  knows  all  of  its  details,  and  not  to  the 
young  novice  just  starting  his  discoveries  in  regions 
that  are  strange  to  him.  The  logical  plan  will  teach 
the  young  child  the  general  plan,  of  salvation,  man's 
fall  and  need  of  redemption,  the  wonder  and  significance 
of  the  atonement,  and  gracious  effects  of  divine  regen- 
eration working  in  the  heart — all  of  which  he  needs 
finally  to  know — but  not  as  a  child  just  beginning  the 
study  of  religion.  The  child  must  arrive  at  the  general 
plan  of  salvation  through  reaUzing  the  saving  power 
at  work  in  his  own  life;  he  must  come  to  understand  the 
fall  of  man  and  his  need  of  redemption  through  meet- 
ing his  own  childhood  temptations  and  through  seeing 
the  effects  of  sin  at  work  around  him;  he  must  under- 
stand the  atonement  and  regeneration  through  the 
present  and  growing  consciousness  of  a  living  Christ 
daily  strengthening  and  redeeming  his  Ufe. 

Chronological  organization. — The  chronological  order 
of  material  is  desirable  at  the  later  stages  of  the  child's 
growth  and  development.  But  in  earUer  years  the 
time  sequence  is  not  the  chief  consideration.  This  is 
because  the  child's  historical  sense  is  not  yet  ready 
for  the  concept  of  cause  and  effect  at  work  to  produce 
certaki  inevitable  results  in  the  lives  of  men  or  nations. 

The  sequence  in  which  certain  kings  reigned,  or  the 
order  in  which  certain  events  took  place,  or  in  which 
certain  books  of  the  Bible  were  written  is  not  the  im- 


132  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

portant  thing  for  early  childhood.  At  this  time  the 
great  object  is  to  seize  upon  the  event,  the  character 
or  the  incident,  and  make  it  real  and  vital;  it  is  to  bring 
the  meaning  of  the  lesson  out  of  its  past  setting  and 
attach  it  to  the  child's  immediate  present. 

Psychological  organization. — It  is  the  psychological 
organization  of  material  that  should  obtain  both  in  the 
curriculum  as  a  whole  and  in  the  planning  of  the  indi- 
vidual lessons.  We  must  not  think,  however,  that  a 
psychological  order  of  material  necessarily  makes  it 
illogical.  On  the  other  hand,  the  arrangement  of  material 
that  takes  into  account  the  child's  needs  is  certain  to 
make  it  more  logical  to  him  than  any  adult  scheme  or 
plan  could  do.  That  is  most  logical  to  any  person  which 
most  completely  fits  into  his  particular  system  of  thought 
and  understanding.  If  we  succeed  in  making  our  plan 
of  presenting  material  to  the  child  wholly  psychological, 
therefore,  we  need  not  be  concerned;  all  other  questions 
of  organization  will  take  care  of  themselves,  and  the 
psychological  will  constantly  tend  to  become  logical. 

What  is  meant  by  a  psychological  method  of  arranging 
material  for  presentation  has  already  been  discussed 
(Chapter  III).  Suflice  it  to  say  here  that  it  is  simply 
planning  the  subject  matter  to  fit  tite  mind  and  needs  of 
the  child — arranging  for  the  easiest  and  most  natural 
mode  of  approach,  securing  the  most  immediate  points 
of  contact  for  interest  and  application,  remembering 
all  the  time  that  the  child  speaks  as  a  child,  thinks  as 
a  child,  understands  as  a  child. 

Jesus'  use  of  the  psychological  plan. — ^The 
teacher  who  seeks  to  master  the  spirit  of  the  psycholog- 
ical presentation  of  religious  material  should  study 
the  teaching-method  of  Jesus.  Always  he  came  close 
to  the  life  and  experience  of  those  he  would  impress; 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  MATERIAL     133 

always  he  proceeds  from  the  plane  of  the  leamer^s 
experiences,  understanding,  and  interests.  Did  he  want 
to  teach  a  great  lesson  about  the  different  ways  in 
which  men  receive  truth  into  their  lives? — "Behold  a 
sower  went  forth  to  sow."  Did  he  seek  to  explain 
the  stupendous  meaning  and  significance  of  the  new 
kingdom  of  the  spirit  which  he  came  to  reveal? — "The 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  hke  to  a  grain  of  mustard  seed," 
or,  "The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  Uke  unto  leaven,  which 
a  woman  took  and  hid  in  three  measures  of  meal,"  or, 
"The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  Hkened  unto  a  man  which 
sowed  good  seed  in  his  field." 

And  with  this  simple,  direct,  psychological,  homely 
mode  of  approach  to  great  themes  Jesus  made  his 
hearers  understand  vital  lessons,  and  at  the  same  time 
showed  them  how  to  apply  the  lessons  to  their  own 
lives.  So  throughout  all  his  teaching  and  preaching; 
the  lesson  of  the  talents,  the  prodigal  son,  the  workers 
in  the  vineyard,  the  wedding  feast,  placing  a  little 
child  in  the  midst  of  them — all  these  and  many  other 
concrete  points  of  departure  illustrate  the  highest 
degree  of  skill  in  the  psychological  use  of  material. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CURRICULUM  AS  A  WHOLE 

The  material  offered  in  the  curriculum  of  our  church 
schools  is  not,  taking  it  in  all  its  parts,  as  well  organized 
as  that  in  our  public  day  schools.  This  is  in  part  be- 
cause the  material  of  religion  is  somewhat  more  diffi- 
cult to  grade  and  arrange  for  the  child  than  the  ma- 
terial of  arithmetic,  geography,  and  other  school  sub- 
jects. But  it  is  also  because  the  church  school  has 
not  fully  kept  pace  with  the  progress  in  education  of 
recent  times. 

A  century  or  two  ago  the  day-school  texts  were  not 


134  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

well  graded  and  adapted  to  children;  now,  we  have 
carefully  graded  systems  of  texts  in  all  school  subjects. 
While  the  logical  and  the  chronological  method  of 
organization  still  holds  a  place  in  many  of  the  public 
school  texts,  the  psychological  point  of  view,  which 
considers  the  needs  of  the  child  first,  is  characteristic 
of  all  the  better  schoolbooks  of  the  present.  Just  be- 
cause religion  is  more  difficult  to  teach  than  grammar 
or  history  or  arithmetic,  we  should  plan  with  all  the 
insight  and  skill  at  our  command  to  prepare  the  re- 
ligious material  for  our  children  so  that  its  arrange- 
ment will  not  suffer  by  comparison  with  day-school 
material. 

Three  types  of  lesson  material. — Material  repre- 
senting three  different  t3rpes  of  organization  and  con- 
tent of  curriculum  material  is  now  available  and  being 
used  in  our  church  schools: 

1.  The  Uniform  Lessons ,  which  are  ungraded,  and 
which  give  (with  few  minor  exceptions)  the  same  topics 
and  material  to  all  ages  of  pupils  from  the  youngest 
children  to  adults. 

2.  The  Graded  Lessons,  which  seek  to  adapt  the  topics 
and  subject  matter  to  the  age  and  needs  of  the  child, 
and  which  therefore  present  different  material  for  the 
various  grades  or  divisions  of  the  school.  These  are 
usually  printed  in  leaflet  or  pamphlet  form. 

3.  Real  textbooks  of  religion  which  are  based  on  the 
principles  used  in  making  day-school  texts.  The  ma- 
terial is  divided  into  chapters,  each  dealing  with  some 
theme  or  topic  adapted  to  the  age  of  the  child,  the 
lessons  not  being  dated  nor  arranged  to  cover  a  certain 
cycle  of  subject  matter  as  in  the  case  of  the  regular 
lesson  series.  The  books  are  printed  and  bound  much 
the  same  as  day-school  texts. 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  MATERIAL     135 

The  uniform  lessons. — Although  many  churches  still 
employ  the  Uniform  Lessons,  we  shall  not  hesitate  to 
say  that  no  church  school  is  justified  in  this  day  of 
educational  enlightenment  in  using  a  system  of  un- 
graded lessons.  Such  lessons  are  planned  for  adults. 
They  ignore  the  needs  of  the  child,  and  force  upon 
him  material  for  which  he  is  in  no  sense  ready,  while 
at  the  same  time  omitting  matter  that  he  needs  and  is 
capable  of  understanding  and  using.  For  example, 
some  of  the  topics  which  primary  children,  juniors,  and 
all  alike  find  in  their  ungraded  lessons  of  current  date 
are,  man's  fall,  the  atonement,  regeneration,  the  city  of 
God,  faith — splendid  topics  aU,  but  too  strong  meat  for 
babes. 

Why  should  we  thus  ignore  the  educational  progress 
of  the  age,  starve  our  children  spiritually,  and  hamper 
them  in  their  religious  development  by  this  obsolete 
system  of  education  which  has  been  long  since  outgrown 
in  the  public  schools?  Why  should  we  not  ignore  tra- 
dition, prejudice,  and  personal  preference,  where  these 
are  in  the  way,  and  let  the  needs  of  the  child  decide? 
Why  should  thousands  of  church  schools  to-day  be 
using  the  Uniform  Lessons? 

Some  use  them  because  they  are  cheaper;  others 
because  they  always  have  used  them  and  do  not  like 
the  trouble  and  disarrangement  of  a  change;  others 
because  of  the  doubtful  theory  of  the  inspiration  that 
comes  from  having  all  the  members  of  the  family  study- 
ing the  same  lesson  at  the  same  time  (we  do  not  expect 
all  the  family  to  read  or  study  the  same  material  in 
other  lines);  and  perhaps  others  because  they  have 
not  been  accustomed  to  thinking  of  religious  education 
following  the  same  principles  and  laws  as  other  edu- 
cation.    But  whatever  the  explanation  of  the  use  of 


136  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

the  Uniform  Lessons  in  our  church  schools  in  the  past, 
let  us  now  see  to  it  that  they  give  way  to  better  ma- 
terial. Let  us  not  be  satisfied,  even,  when  the  ungraded 
uniform  lessons  are  *' improved";  they  should  not  be 
improved,  but  discarded. 

Graded  lessons. — A  large  and  increasing  number  of 
our  best  church  schools  are  now  using  some  form  of 
graded  lesson  material  based  on  the  topics  supplied  by 
the  International  Lesson  Committee.  Each  great 
denomination  has  its  own  lesson  writers,  who  take  these 
topics  and  elaborate  them  into  the  graded  lessons  such 
as  we  know  in  the  Berean  Series,  the  Keystone  Series, 
the  Pilgrim  Series,  the  Westminster  Series,  etc.  All 
such  lesson  material,  which  seeks  to  adapt  the  material 
to  the  needs  of  the  child  as  he  progresses  year  by  year 
from  infancy  to  adulthood,  is  infinitely  superior  to  any 
form  of  ungraded  material.  It  is  easier  and  more  in- 
teresting for  the  child  to  learn,  less  difficult  for  the 
teacher  to  present,  and  its  value  in  guiding  spiritual 
development  immeasurably  greater. 

Some  form  of  closely  graded  lessons  is  the  only  kind 
of  material  which  should  be  used  in  our  church  schools; 
the  children  have  the  same  need  and  the  same  right 
to  material  graded  and  prepared  to  meet  their  under- 
standing in  religion  as  in  language  or  in  science.  But 
when  we  employ  graded  lessons  we  must  make  sure 
that  the  child,  and  not  the  subject  matter,  is  the  basis  of 
the  grading.  We  must  make  certain  that  the  writer  of 
the  lessons  knows  the  mental  grasp,  the  type  of  interests, 
the  characteristic  attitudes,  and  the  social  activities 
of  the  child  at  the  different  stages,  and  then  arranges 
the  material  to  meet  these  needs.  We  must  not  simply 
aim  to  cover  so  much  biblical  material,  even  if  we 
select  it  as  well  as  we  may  to  come  within  the  child's 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  MATERIAL     137 

grasp;  we  must  have  his  real  religious  needs,  his  re- 
ligious growth,  and  his  spiritual  development  in  mind, 
and  provide  for  these. 

Adapting  graded  lessons  to  young  children. — 
In  the  graded  series  of  lessons  now  most  commonly  used 
in  the  church  schools  the  material  is,  on  the  whole, 
fairly  well  selected  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  beginners 
and  the  primary  section.  Interesting  stories  are  told, 
and  much  nature  material  presented.  The  work  is, 
of  course,  all  presented  to  the  pupils  by  the  teacher, 
as  the  children  cannot  yet  read.  In  some  cases  the 
stories  used  are  undoubtedly  too  difficult,  and  not  a 
few  of  them  lack  the  elements  of  good  story-telling. 

Yet  the  instruction  usually  centers  about  the  topics 
most  needed  by  the  child  at  this  time — the  love  and 
care  of  God  both  for  our  lives  and  in  the  world  of  nature 
about  us;  the  Christ-child  and  his  care  for  children; 
lessons  of  kindness,  obedience  and  love  in  the  home,  etc. 
Because  of  this  directness  of  appeal  the  child  responds 
to  the  material  and  the  teacher  finds  her  task  much 
easier  and  more  fruitful  than  with  the  difficult  topics 
of  the  ungraded  lessons. 

Graded  lessons  not  all  well  adapted  to  ages. — 
As  the  graded  lessons  pass  on  into  the  junior  age,  the 
adaptation  of  material  is  generally  less  successful  than 
for  the  primary  grades.  The  topics  are  based  less  on 
the  interests  and  spiritual  needs  of  the  child,  and  more 
on  the  material.  The  lessons  for  the  greater  part  con- 
sist of  biblical  material  only,  and  are  often  too  difficult 
for  the  child  to  be  interested  in  them  or  to  understand 
them.  No  coordinating  principle  relates  the  topics  to 
each  other,  and  the  material  consequently  comes  to 
the  child  in  rather  disconnected  scraps.  Too  frequently 
this  material,  because  it  belongs  to  a  later  stage  of 


138  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

development,  is  without  any  particular  or  direct  bear- 
ing on  the  learner's  experience,  and  hence  not  assimilated 
into  his  life. 

The  remedy  here  is  to  use  a  larger  proportion  of  story 
material,  of  biography,  of  lessons  from  nature,  and  of 
such  gems  of  literature  as  carry  a  spiritual  message  suited 
to  the  child.  The  caution  is  to  avoid  over-intellectual- 
izing  the  child's  religious  instruction,  and  to  make  sure 
that  we  do  not  outrun  his  rate  of  development  in  the 
material  we  give  him.  The  same  principles  should 
carry  over  into  the  intermediate,  or  preadolescence,  age. 
The  hero-worship  stage  is  then  at  hand,  and  the  lesson 
material  should  be  arranged  to  meet  the  natural  de- 
mand of  the  child  for  action  and  adventure. 

In  planning  a  graded  series  of  lessons  it  is  not  less 
important  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  seniors^  or  adolescents, 
than  of  the  younger  pupils.  This  has  not  always  been 
accomplished.  Here  again,  as  in  the  earlier  years,  the 
immediate  interests  and  needs  of  the  learner  are  to  be 
the  key  to  the  planning  of  material.  A  series  of  unre- 
lated topics  dealing  with  a  distant  time  and  civilization, 
with  little  or  no  application  to  the  problems  and  in- 
terests that  are  now  thronging  upon  the  youth,  will 
make  small  appeal  to  him.  The  youth's  growing  con- 
sciousness of  social  problems,  his  interest  in  a  vocation, 
his  increasing  feeling  of  personal  responsibiHty  as  a 
member  of  the  family,  the  community,  the  church  and 
the  brotherhood  of  men  are  suggestions  of  the  nature 
of  the  topics  that  should  now  form  the  foundation  of 
religious  study  and  instruction. 

It  is  possible  that  the  forgetting  of  this  simple  fact 
in  the  planning  of  material  for  adolescent  pupils  is  one 
chief  reason  for  the  tragic  loss  of  interest  in  the  Sunday 
school  which  so  often  occurs  at  the  adolescent  stage. 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  MATERIAL     139 

Text  books  of  religious  material. — ^The  text  book 
t3rpe  of  religious  material  differs  more  in  the  organ- 
ization and  arrangement  of  material  than  in  the  subject 
matter  itself.  The  lessons  are  not  based  on  a  set  cycle 
of  biblical  material,  though,  of  course,  such  material 
is  freely  used.  Usually  one  topic  or  theme  is  followed 
throughout  the  text,  the  number  of  lessons  or  chapters 
provided  being  intended  for  one  year's  work.  The 
following  titles  of  texts  now  in  use  suggest  the  nature 
of  the  subject  matter:  "  God's  Wonder  World,"  "Heroes 
of  Israel,"  "Heroic  Lives,"  "The  Story  of  Jesus,"  "The 
Making  of  a  Nation,"  "Our  Part  in  the  World,"  "The 
Story  of  a  Book,"  "The  Manhood  of  the  Master," 
"Problems  of  Boyhood,"  "Social  Duties,"  "The  Test- 
ing of  a  Nation's  Ideals." 

Beyond  question,  the  material  we  teach  our  children 
in  religion  should  be  organized  and  published  as  real 
books  and  not  as  paper-covered  or  unbound  serial 
pamphlets.  There  is  really  no  more  reason  why  we 
should  divide  religious  material  up  into  lessons  to  be 
dated,  and  issued  month  by  month,  than  why  we  should 
thus  divide  and  issue  material  in  geography,  history, 
reading,  or  any  other  school  subject.  Children  who 
are  accustomed  in  day  schools  to  well-made,  well- 
bound  books,  with  good  paper  and  clear,  readable 
print,  cannot  be  expected  to  respond  favorably  to  the 
ordinary  lesson  pamphlet.  The  child  should  be  en- 
couraged and  helped  in  the  building  of  his  own  library 
of  reUgious  books,  but  this  can  hardly  be  done  as  long 
as  his  church-school  material  comes  to  him  in  tem- 
porary form,  much  of  it  less  attractive  on  the  mechanical 
side  than  the  average  advertising  leaflet  which  so  freely 
finds  its  unread  way  to  the  waste  basket. 

Many  of  the  Sunday  school  leaflets  carry  at  the  top 


I40  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

(or  the  bottom)  of  the  page  an  advertisement  of  the 
denominational  lesson  series — matter  in  which  the 
child  is  not  concerned,  which  injures  the  appearance 
of  the  page,  and  which  lowers  the  dignity  and  value  of 
the  publication.  And  some  lesson  pamphlets  are  even 
disfigured  with  commercial  advertisements,  sometimes 
of  articles  of  doubtful  value,  and  always  with  the  effect 
of  lowering  the  tone  of  the  subject  matter  to  which  it 
is  attached.  Religious  material  printed  in  worthy  book 
form  escapes  these  indignities.  That  textbooks  in 
religion  will  cost  more  than  the  present  cheap  form  of 
material  is  possible.  But  what  matter!  We  are  willing 
to  supply  our  children  with  the  texts  needed  in  their 
day-school  work;  shall  we  not  supply  them  with  the 
books  required  for  their  training  in  religion?  If  the 
texts  prove  too  much  of  a  financial  burden  for  the 
children  or  their  parents,  there  is  no  reason  why  the 
church  should  not  follow  the  example  of  the  pubKc 
school  district  and  itself  own  the  books,  lending  them 
for  free  use  to  the  pupils. 

Guiding  principles. — The  principles  for  the  organ- 
ization of  the  church-school  curriculum  are,  then,  clear. 
Its  lessons  should  start  with  matter  adapted  to  the 
youngest  child.  It  should  present  a  continuous  series 
of  steps  providing  material  of  broadening  scope  adapted 
to  each  age  or  stage  from  childhood  to  full  maturity. 
Its  order  and  arrangement  should  at  all  times  be  de- 
cided by  the  needs  and  development  of  the  learner, 
and  should  make  constant  point  of  contact  with  his 
life  and  experience.  It  should  be  printed  in  attractive 
textbook  form,  the  paper,  type,  illustrations,  and  bind- 
ing being  equal  to  the  best  standards  prevailing  in 
public-school  texts.  In  short,  we  should  apply  the 
same  scientific   and   educational  knowledge,   and   the 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  MATERIAL     141 

same  business  ability  in  preparing  and  issuing  our 
religious  material  that  we  devote  to  this  phase  of  general 
education. 

ORGANIZING  THE  DAILY  LESSON  MATERIAL 

The  teacher's  plan  or  organization  of  each  lesson  for 
presentation  to  the  class  in  the  recitation  is  a  matter 
of  supreme  importance.  Even  the  best  and  most  expe- 
rienced teachers  never  reach  the  point  where  they  do 
not  need  to  prepare  specifically  for  each  recitation. 
No  matter  how  complete  the  knowledge  of  the  subject, 
nor  how  often  one  has  taught  it,  there  is  always  the 
necessity  of  fitting  it  directly  to  the  needs  and  interests 
of  the  particular  class  before  us.  This  preparation 
should  result  in  a  definitely  worked  out  lesson  plan 
which,  though  it  may  finally  be  modified  to  fit  situa- 
tions as  they  arise  in  the  class  discussion,  will  neverthe- 
less serve  as  an  outline  of  procedure  for  the  recitation. 
Even  the  teachers'  manual  supplied  with  most  of  the 
lesson  series  cannot  take  the  place  of  this  definite, 
individual  plan  prepared  by  the  teacher  himself  for 
his  immediate  class. 

The  lesson  plan. — ^The  first  step  in  arranging  a 
lesson  plan  is  to  determine  the  range  and  amount  of 
material  which  is  to  be  presented  to  accompKsh  the 
aim  of  the  class  hour.  This  will  include  the  lesson  or 
story  from  the  Bible,  nature  material,  memory  work, 
music,  pictures  or  any  other  subject  matter  to  be  con- 
sidered. In  determining  this  point  the  age  of  the  chil- 
dren, the  time  available,  and  the  nature  of  the  subject 
must  all  be  taken  into  account.  It  is  a  mistake  to 
attempt  more  than  can  be  done  well,  or  to  try  to  do  so 
many  things  that  the  recitation  is  too  much  hurried 
to  be  interesting  or  profitable. 


142  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

The  lesson  plan  should  provide  for  a  few  chief  points 
or  topics,  with  the  smaller  points  and  the  illustrations 
grouped  under  these.  To  have  many  topics  receiving 
the  same  amount  of  emphasis  in  a  lesson  indicates  poor 
organization.  For  example,  in  teaching  the  lesson  of 
obedience  from  the  Garden  of  Eden  story  the  material 
may  well  be  grouped  under  the  following  topics:  i.  The 
many  good  and  beautiful  things  God  had  given  Adam 
and  Eve.  2.  There  was  one  thing  only  which  they 
might  not  have.  3.  Their  disobedience  in  desiring  and 
taking  this  one  thing.  4.  Their  feeling  of  guilt  and 
unhappiness  which  made  them  hide  from  God.  Under 
these  four  general  heads  will  come  all  the  stories,  illus- 
trations, and  applications  necessary  to  make  the  lesson 
very  real  to  children. 

Small  matters  of  large  import — Of  course  the  par- 
ticular questions  to  be  asked  and  the  more  immediate 
applications  to  be  made  must  await  the  unfolding  of 
the  lesson  discussion  with  the  class.  Good  planning 
requires,  however,  that  we  have  a  set  of  pivotal  ques- 
tions thought  out  and  set  down  for  our  guidance;  and 
also  suggestions  for  illustrations  and  applications  under 
the  various  topics.  If  expression  work  is  to  be  used, 
this  should  be  noted  in  its  proper  place,  and  provision 
made  for  carrying  it  out.  In  planning  for  older  classes, 
reference  should  be  made  in  the  plan  to  special  assign- 
ments to  be  made  in  books,  magazines  or  any  other 
material. 

Provision  should  be  made  in  the  plan  for  a  sum- 
mary at  the  end  of  the  lesson  period,  and  for  the  making 
of  tbe  final  impression  which  the  class  are  to  carry 
away  with  them.  Nor  must  the  assignment  of  the 
next  lesson  be  forgotten.  Probably  no  small  propor- 
tion of  the  chamcteristic  failure  of  pupils  to  prepare 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  MATERIAL     143 

their  lessons  comes  from  lack  of  definite  assignments 
showing  the  child  just  what  he  is  expected  to  do,  and 
how  to  do  it. 

Details  of  a  typical  lesson  plan. — ^Let  us  suppose 
that  we  are  to  teach  the  lesson  of  obedience  from  the 
story  of  Adam  and  Eve  to  children  of  early  primary 
age.    Our  Lesson  Plan  might  be  something  as  follows: 

I.  The  Aim  or  Purpose  oj  the  Lesson — Obedience. 

I.  Knowledge  or  information  to  be  given  the 
class — 

o.  Of  the  Bible  story  itself. 
h.  Of  the  fact  that  God  requires  obedience. 

c.  That   disobedience  brings   sorrow  and 

ptmishment. 

d.  That  children  owe  obedience  to  parents 

and  teachers. 
a.  Attitudes,  and  feeh'ng  response  to  be  sought. 
a.  Interest  in  and  liking  for  the  Bible  story. 
6.  Appreciation  of  God's  many  gifts  to  l:ds 

children. 

c.  Desire  to  please  God  with  obedience. 

d.  Sorrow  for  acts  of  disobedience. 

€.  Respect  for  authority  of  home,  school 
and  law. 
3.  Applications  to  the  child's  life  and  conduct, 
a.  Acts  of  obedience  to  God  in  being  kind, 

cheerful,  and  helpful  to  others. 
h.  Cheerful  obedience  in  home  and  school, 

with  no  lagging  nor  ill  nature. 
c.  Prayer  for  forgiveness  for  any  act  of  dis- 
obedience. 
II.  Material  or  Subject  Matter  to  he  Presented. 

I.  The  story  of  Adam  and  Eve  in  the  Garden. 
The  version  of  the  story  is  important.    The 
original  from  the  Bible  is  too  difficult. 
If  the  lesson  material  does  not  offer  the 


144  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

story  in  satisfactory  form,  go  to  one  of  the 
many  books  of  Bible  stories  and  find  a 
rendering  suited  to  your  class.  Be  able 
to  tell  the  story  well. 

2.  Pictures  of  Adam  and  Eve  in  the  Garden. 

Be  sure  the  picture  is  interesting,  well  exe- 
cuted, and  that  it  shows  attractive  and 
beautiful  things. 

3.  Prayer  on  obedience. 

The  prayer  to  be  brief  and  simple,  asking 
God  to  help  each  one  to  obey  him  and  to 
obey  father  and  mother,  and  to  forgive  us 
when  we  do  not  obey. 
3.  Music. 

If  possible,  the  music  may  correlate  with 
the  thought  of  the  lesson.  If  not,  let  it  be 
devotional  and  adapted  to  the  children  in 
words  and  melody. 
5.  Handwork  or  other  form  of  expression  ma- 
terial. 

Cutting  and  pasting  pictures  in  notebooks; 
coloring,  or  other  such  work,  to  be  done 
either  in  the  classroom  or  at  home. 
III.  Mode  of  Procedure — the  Presentation,  or  Instruction. 

1.  Greetings  to  the  class — opening  prayer  and 

song. 

2.  Introduction  of  the  lesson  and  telling  of  the 

story. 

3.  Discussion,  questions  and  illustrations  to  re- 

veal: 

a.  The  many  beautiftil  gifts  which  God  had 

given  Adam  and  Eve,  and  which  he 
gives  us. 

b.  How  Adam  and  Eve  were  allowed  to 

have  everything  except  just  one  thing 
among  many.  Application  of  this 
thought  to  child's  life  at  home,  etc. 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  MATERIAL     145 

c.  How  Adam  and  Eve  yielded  to  tempta- 

tion  and  disobeyed.    Practical  appli- 
cation to  child's  life. 

d.  How  Adam  and  Eve  felt  ashamed  and 

guilty  after  they  had  disobeyed  God, 

and  how  they  tried  to  hide  from  him. 

This  can  be  made  very  real  to  children. 
€.  How  punishment  follows  disobedience. 
/.  Why  we  must  ask  for  forgiveness  when 

we  have  been  disobedient. 

4.  Summary,  or  brief  restatement  of  chief  im- 

pressions to  carry  away,  and  of  applications 
to  be  made  in  the  week  ahead  by  the  chil- 
dren themselves. 

5.  Closing  prayer  and  song. 

Adapting  the  lesson  plan  to  its  uses. — It  is,  of 

course,  evident  that  lesson  plans  can  be  made  of  all 
degrees  of  complexity  and  completeness.  With  a 
little  practice  the  teacher  can  easily  decide  the  kind 
of  plan  that  best  suits  himself  and  his  particular  grade 
of  work.  On  the  one  hand,  the  plan  should  not  be  so 
detailed  as  to  become  burdensome  to  follow  in  the 
lesson  hour.  On  the  other  hand,  it  should  not  be  so 
brief  and  sketchy  as  not  to  bring  out  the  significant 
elements  of  the  lesson. 

Different  grades  of  pupils  and  different  subjects  will 
require  different  lesson  plans.  It  is  probable,  however, 
that  the  three  major  heads  of  "Aims,"  "Material," 
and  "Mode  of  Procedure"  will  prove  serviceable  in 
all  plan  making.  While  the  teacher  should  have  his 
plan  hook  at  hand  in  the  recitation,  he  must  not  become 
its  slave,  nor  allow  its  use  to  kill  spontaneity  and  re- 
sponsiveness in  his  teaching.  Both  the  subject  matter 
and  the  day's  plan  should  be  so  well  mastered  that  no 
more  than  an  occasional  glance  at  the  details  in  the 


146  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

plan  book  will  be  required.  Nothing  must  be  allowed 
to  come  between  the  teacher's  best  personality  and 
his  class. 

1.  Have  you  heard  lectures,  sermons,  or  lessons  which 
were  constructed  after  the  haphazard  plan?  Were  they 
easy  to  follow  and  to  remember?  Did  they  develop  a  line 
of  thought  in  a  successful  way?  Do  you  think  that  the 
haphazard  type  of  organization  indicates  either  lack  of 
preparation  or  lack  of  ability? 

2.  Do  you  definitely  try  to  organize  your  daily  lesson 
material  on  a  psychological  plan?  How  can  you  tell 
whether  you  have  succeeded?  Are  you  close  enough  to  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  yoiu*  pupils  so  that  you  are  able  to 
judge  quite  accurately  the  best  mode  of  approach  in  plan- 
ning a  lesson? 

3.  Do  you  study  the  lesson  helps  provided  with  your 
lesson  material?  Do  you  find  them  helpful?  If  you  find 
that  they  are  not  well  adapted  to  yoiu:  particular  class, 
have  you  the  ability  to  make  the  suggestions  over  to  fit 
yovu  class? 

4.  Do  you  make  a  reasonably  complete  and  wholly 
definite  lesson  plan  for  each  lesson?  Do  you  keep  a  plan 
book,  so  that  you  may  be  able  to  look  back  at  any  time  and 
see  just  what  devices  you  have  used  ?  If  you  have  not  done 
this,  will  you  not  start  the  practice  now? 

5.  What  type  of  lesson  material  do  you  use,  uniform, 
graded,  or  textbook?  Are  you  acquainted  with  other 
series  or  material  for  the  same  grades?  Would  it  not  be 
worth  your  while  to  secure  supplemental  material  of  such 
kinds? 

6.  Do  you  read  a  journal  of  Simday  school  method  deal- 
ing with  problems  of  your  grade  of  teaching?  If  day- 
school  teachers  find  it  worth  while  to  read  professional 
journals,  do  not  chiu*ch-school  teachers  need  their  help  as 
much?  If  you  do  not  know  what  journals  to  secure,  your 
pastor  can  advise  you. 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  MATERIAL     147 

FOR  FURTHER  READING 

Strayer,  A  Brief  Course  in  the  Teaching  Process,  chap- 
ter XVI. 

Betts,  Class  Room  Method  and  Management,  chapter 
VIII 

Earhart,  Types  of  Teaching. 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  TECHNIQUE  OF  TEACHING 

Our  teaching  must  be  made  to  stick.  None  but 
lasting  impressions  possess  permanent  value.  The  ser- 
mons, the  lectures,  the  lessons  that  we  remember  and 
later  dwell  upon  are  the  ones  that  finally  are  built  into 
our  lives  and  that  shape  our  thinking  and  acting.  Im- 
pressions that  touch  only  the  outer  surfaces  of  the 
mind  are  no  more  lasting  than  writing  traced  on  the 
sand.  Truths  that  are  but  dimly  felt  or  but  partially 
grasped  soon  fade  away,  leaving  little  more  effect  than 
the  shadows  which  are  thrown  on  the  picture  screen. 

Especially  do  these  facts  hold  for  the  teacher  in  the 
church-school  class.  For  the  impressions  made  in  the 
church-school  lesson  hour  bear  a  larger  proportion  to 
the  entire  result  than  in  the  pubHc  school.  This  is 
because  of  the  nature  of  the  subject  we  teach,  and  also 
because  of  the  fact  that  most  of  our  pupils  come  to 
the  class  with  httle  or  no  previous  study  on  the  lesson 
material.  This  leaves  them  almost  completely  dependent 
on  the  recitation  itself  for  the  actual  results  of  their 
church-school  attendance.  The  responsibility  thus 
placed  upon  the  teacher  is  correspondingly  great,  and 
requires  unusual  devotion  and  skill. 

ATTENTION  TO  KEY 

The  things  that  impress  us,  the  things  that  we  re- 
member and  apply,  are  the  things  to  which  we  have 
attended  wholly  and  completely.  The  mind  may  be 
thought  of  as  a  stream  of  energy.    There  is  only  so  much 

146 


THE  TECHNIQUE  OF  TEACHING        149 

volume,  so  much  force  that  can  be  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  work  in  hand.  In  attention  the  mind's  energy- 
is  piled  up  in  a  "wave"  on  the  problem  occupying  our 
thought,  and  results  follow  as  they  cannot  if  the  stream 
of  mental  energy  flows  at  a  dead  level  from  lack  of 
concentration. 

Or,  again,  the  mind's  energy  may  be  likened  to  the 
energy  of  sunlight  as  it  falls  in  a  flood  through  the 
window  upon  our  desk.  This  diffuse  sunlight  will 
brighten  the  desk  top  and  slightly  increase  its  tem- 
perature, but  no  striking  effects  are  seen.  But  now 
take  this  same  amount  of  sun  energy  and,  passing  it 
through  a  lens,  focus  it  on  a  small  spot  on  the  desk 
top — and  the  wood  bursts  almost  at  once  into  flame. 
What  diffuse  energy  coming  from  the  sun  could  never 
do,  concentrated  energy  easily  and  quickly  accompKshed. 
Attention  is  to  the  mind's  energy  what  the  lens  is  to 
the  sun's  energy.  It  gathers  the  mental  power  into  a 
focus  on  the  lesson  to  be  learned  or  the  truth  to  be 
mastered,  and  the  concentrated  energy  of  the  mind 
readily  accomplishes  results  that  would  be  impossible 
with  the  mental  energy  scattered  or  not  directed  to  the 
one  thing  under  consideration.  The  teacher's  first  and 
most  persistent  problem  in  the  recitation  is,  therefore,  to 
gain  and  hold  the  highest  possible  degree  of  attention. 

Three  types  of  appeal  to  attention. — ^We  are  told 
that  there  are  three  kinds  of  attention,  though  this  is 
not  strictly  true.  There  is  really  only  one  kind  of 
attention,  for  attention  is  but  the  concentration  of  the 
mind's  energy  on  one  object  or  thought.  What  is  meant 
is  that  there  are  three  different  ways  of  securing  or 
appealing  to  attention.  Each  type  of  attention  is  named 
in  accordance  with  the  kind  of  compulsion  or  appeal 
necessary  to  command  it,  as  follows: 


I50  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

1.  Involuntary  attention,  or  attention  that  is  de- 
manded of  us  by  some  sudden  or  startling  stimulus, 
as  the  stroke  of  a  bell,  the  whistle  of  a  train,  an  aching 
tooth,  the  teacher  rapping  on  the  desk  with  a  ruler. 

2.  Nonvoluntary,  or  spontaneous,  attention  that  we 
give  easily  and  naturally,  with  no  effort  of  self-com- 
pulsion. This  kind  of  attention  is  compelled  by  interest, 
and,  when  left  unhindered,  will  be  guided  by  the  nature 
of  our  interest. 

3.  Voluntary  attention,  or  attention  that  is  com- 
pelled by  effort  and  power  of  will,  and  thereby  required 
to  concern  itself  with  some  particular  object  of  thought 
when  the  mind's  pull  or  desire  is  in  another  direction. 

How  each  type  of  attention  works. — The  first  of 
these  types  of  attention,  the  involuntary,  has  so  little 
place  in  education  that  we  shall  not  need  to  discuss 
it  here.  The  teacher  who  raps  the  desk  or  taps  the 
bell  to  secure  attention  which  should  come  from  interest 
must  remember  that  in  such  case  the  attention  is  given 
to  the  stimulus,  that  is,  to  the  signal,  and  not  to  the 
lesson,  and  this  very  fact  makes  all  such  efforts  to 
secure  attention  a  distraction  in  themselves. 

The  spontaneous,  or  nonvoluntary,  attention  that 
arises  from  interest  is  the  basis  on  which  all  true  edu- 
cation and  training  must  be  founded.  The  mind,  and 
especially  the  child's  mind,  is  so  constituted  that  its 
full  power  is  not  brought  to  bear  except  under  the 
stimulus  and  compulsion  of  interest.  It  is  the  story 
which  is  so  entrancing  that  we  cannot  tear  ourself  away 
from  it,  the  game  which  is  so  exciting  as  to  cause  us  to 
forget  all  else  in  watching  it,  the  lecture  or  sermon 
which  is  so  interesting  that  we  are  absorbed  in  listen- 
ing to  it,  that  claims  our  best  thought  and  comprehen- 
sion.    It  is  when  our  mind's  powers  are  thus  driven 


THE  TECHNIQUE  OF  TEACHING        151 

by  a  tidal  wave  of  interest  that  we  are  at  our  best,  and 
that  we  receive  and  register  the  lasting  impressions 
which  become  a  part  of  our  mental  equipment  and 
character. 

This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  there  is  no  place 
for  voluntary  attention  in  the  child's  training.  For  not 
everything  can  be  made  so  inviting  that  the  appeal 
will  at  all  times  bring  about  the  concentration  necessary. 
And  in  any  case  a  part  of  the  child's  education  is  to 
learn  self -direction,  self -compulsion,  and  self-control. 
There  are  many  occasions  when  the  interest  is  not 
sufficient  to  hold  attention  steady  to  the  task  in  hand; 
it  is  at  this  point  that  voluntary  attention  should  come 
in  to  add  its  help  to  provide  the  required  effort  and 
concentration.  There  are  many  circumstances  under 
which  interest  will  secure  a  moderate  amount  of  appli- 
cation of  mental  energy  to  the  task,  but  where  the 
will  should  step  in  and  command  an  additional  supply 
of  effort,  and  so  attain  full  instead  of  partial  results. 

Children  should,  therefore,  be  trained  to  give  atten- 
tion. They  should  be  taught  to  take  and  maintain 
the  attitude  of  attention  throughout  the  lesson  period, 
and  not  be  allowed  to  become  listless  or  troublesome 
the  moment  their  interest  is  not  held  to  the  highest 
pitch. 

THE  APPEAL  TO  INTEREST 

Sometimes  we  speak  of  "arousing  the  child's  interest," 
or  of  "creating  an  interest"  in  a  topic  we  are  teaching. 
Strictly  speaking,  this  is  incorrect.  The  child's  in- 
terest, when  rightly  appealed  to,  does  not  have  to  be 
"aroused,"  nor  does  interest  have  to  be  "created." 

Every  normal  child  is  naturally  alert,  curious,  in- 
terested in  what  concerns  him.    Who  has  not  taken  a 


152  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

child  for  a  walk  or  gone  with  a  group  of  children  on  an 
excursion,  and  been  amazed  at  their  capacity  for  in- 
terest in  every  object  about  them  and  for  attention 
to  an  endless  chain  of  impressions  from  their  varied 
environment?  Who  has  not  observed  children  in  a 
game,  and  noted  their  complete  absorption  in  its  changing 
aspects?  Who  has  not  called  a  child  from  an  interest- 
ing tale  in  a  book  he  was  reading,  and  found  that  it 
required  the  combined  force  of  our  authority  and  the 
child's  will  to  break  the  spell  of  his  interest  and  sep- 
arate him  from  his  book?  Interest  is  always  ready  to 
flow  in  resistless  current  if  we  can  but  find  the  right 
channel  and  a  way  to  set  it  free.  When  we  find  our 
class  uninterested,  therefore,  we  must  first  of  all  seek 
the  explanation  not  in  the  children,  but  in  ourselves, 
our  methods,  or  the  matter  we  teach. 

Interest  depends  on  comprehension. — First  of  all 
we  must  remember  that  interest  never  attaches  to  what 
the  mind  does  not  grasp.  Go  yourself  and  listen  to  the 
technical  lecture  you  do  not  understand,  or  try  to  read 
the  book  that  deals  with  matters  concerning  which 
you  have  no  information;  then  apply  the  results  of 
your  experience  to  the  case  of  the  child.  The  matter 
we  teach  the  child  must  have  sufficient  connection  with 
his  own  experience,  be  sufficiently  close  to  the  things 
he  knows  and  cares  about,  so  that  he  has  a  basis  on 
which  to  comprehend  them.  The  new  must  be  related 
to  something  old  and  familiar  in  the  mind  to  meet  a 
warm  welcome. 

If  we  would  secure  the  child's  interest,  we  must 
make  certain  of  a  "point  of  contact"  in  his  own  life 
and  meet  him  on  the  plane  of  his  own  experience.  God 
smiling  in  the  sunshine,  making  the  flowers  grow  or 
whispering  in  the  breeze  is  closer  to  the  child  than  Grod 


THE  TECHNIQUE  OF  TEACHING        153 

as  "Creator."  God  protecting  and  watching  over  the 
child  timid  and  afraid  in  the  dark  is  more  real  than 
God  in  his  heaven  as  "protector."  We  must  remember 
that  not  what  we  feel  is  of  value,  but  what  the  child  feels 
is  of  value  is  what  will  appeal  to  his  interest  and  atten- 
tion. And  no  exertion  or  agonizing  on  our  part  will 
create  interest  in  the  child  in  matters  for  which  his 
own  understanding  and  experience  have  not  fitted  him. 
For  example,  probably  no  child  is  ever  interested  in 
learning  the  church  catechism  or  Bible  verses  which 
we  prize  so  highly,  but  which  he  can  not  understand 
nor  apply;  he  may  be  interested  in  a  prize  to  be  had 
at  the  end  of  the  learning,  but  in  this  case  the  interest 
is  in  the  reward  and  not  in  the  matter  learned.  Empty 
words  devoid  of  meaning  never  fire  interest  nor  kindle 
enthusiasm. 

Interest  attaches  to  action. — Children  are  interested 
more  in  action,  deeds,  and  events  than  in  motives, 
reasons,  and  explanations.  They  care  more  for  the 
uses  to  which  objects  are  to  be  put  than  for  the  objects 
themselves. 

No  boy  is  interested  in  a  bicycle  chiefly  as  an  example 
of  mechanical  skill,  but,  rather,  as  a  means  of  loco- 
motion. No  girl  is  interested  in  dolls  just  as  dolls, 
nor  as  a  product  of  the  toy  maker's  skill,  but  to  play 
with.  It  is  this  quality  that  makes  children  respond 
to  the  story,  for  the  story  deals  with  action  instead  of 
with  explanation  and  description.  In  the  story  there 
is  life  and  movement,  and  not  reasoning  and  mere 
assertion.  The  story  presents  the  lesson  in  terms  of 
deeds  and  events,  instead  of  by  means  of  abstract 
statement  and  formal  conclusion. 

This  principle  carries  over  to  the  child's  own  par- 
ticipation.    Everyone  is  most  interested  in  that  in 


154  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

which  he  has  an  active  part.  The  meeting  in  which  we 
presided  or  made  a  speech  or  presented  a  report  is  to 
us  a  more  interesting  meeting  than  one  in  which  we 
were  a  silent  auditor.  To  the  child,  personal  response 
is  even  more  necessary.  No  small  part  of  the  reason 
why  the  child  "learns  by  doing"  is  that  he  is  interested 
in  doing  as  he  is  not  interested  in  mere  listening.  All 
good  teaching  will  therefore  appeal  to  interest  through 
providing  the  fullest  possible  opportunity  for  the  child 
to  have  an  important  share  in  the  lesson.  And  this 
part  must  be  something  which  to  the  child  is  worth 
doing,  and  not,  for  example,  an  oral  memory  drill  on 
words  meaningless  to  the  pupil,  nor  "expression"  work 
of  a  kind  that  lacks  purpose  and  action.  There  are 
always  real  things  to  be  done  if  the  lesson  is  vital- 
personal  experiences  to  be  recounted,  special  assign- 
ments to  be  reported  upon,  maps  to  be  drawn  or  re- 
modeled, specimens  of  flowers  or  plants  to  be  secured, 
character  parts  to  be  represented  in  the  story,  a  bit 
of  history  to  be  looked  up,  prayers  to  be  said,  songs 
to  be  sung,  or  a  hundred  other  things  done  which  will 
appeal  to  the  interest  and  at  the  same  time  fix  the 
points  of  the  lesson. 

Interest  requires  variety  and  change. — Interest 
attaches  to  the  new,  provided  the  new  is  sufficiently 
related  to  the  fund  of  experience  already  on  hand  so 
that  it  is  fully  grasped  and  understood.  While  there 
are  certain  matters,  such  as  marching,  handling  sup- 
plies, etc.,  in  the  recitation  which  should  be  done  the 
same  way  each  time  so  that  they  may  become  habit 
and  routine,  yet  there  is  a  wide  range  of  variety  possi- 
ble in  much  of  the  procedure. 

The  lessons  should  not  be  conducted  always  in  the 
same  way.     One  recitation  may  consist  chiefly  of  dis- 


THE  TECHNIQUE  OF  TEACHING         155 

cussion,  with  question  and  answer  between  teacher 
and  class.  Another  may  be  given  largely  to  reports 
on  special  assignments,  with  the  teacher's  comments 
to  broaden  and  apply  the  points.  Another  may  take 
the  form  of  stories  told  and  illustrations  given  by  the 
teacher,  or  of  stories  retold  by  the  class  from  former 
lessons.  The  great  thing  is  to  secure  change  and  variety 
without  losing  sight  of  the  real  aims  of  the  lesson,  and 
to  plan  for  a  pleasant  surprise  now  and  then  without 
lowering  the  value  of  the  instruction. 

Interest  is  contagious. — Every  observing  teacher  has 
learned  that  interest  is  contagious.  An  interested  and 
enthusiastic  teacher  is  seldom  troubled  by  lack  of  in- 
terest and  attention  on  the  part  of  the  class.  Nor,  on 
the  other  hand,  will  interest  and  attention  continue 
on  the  part  of  the  class  if  confronted  by  a  mechanical 
and  lifeless  teacher.  The  teacher  is  the  model  uncon- 
sciously accepted  and  responded  to  by  his  class.  He 
leads  the  way  in  interest  and  enthusiasm.  Nor  will 
any  sham  or  pretense  serve.  The  interest  must  be 
real  and  deep.  Even  young  children  quickly  sense  any 
make-believe  enthusiasm  or  vivacity  on  the  part  of 
the  teacher,  and  their  ardor  immediately  cools. 

Children's  typical  interests  have  their  birth,  ripen 
to  full  strength,  and  fade  away  by  certain  broad  stages. 
What  will  appeal  to  the  child  of  five  will  not  appeal 
to  the  child  of  ten,  and  will  secure  no  response  from 
the  youth  of  fifteen.  vSpace  will  not  permit  even  an  out- 
line of  these  interest-stages  here,  but  genetic  psychology 
has  carefully  mapped  them  out  and  their  nature  and 
order  of  development  should  be  studied  by  every  teacher. 

FREEDOM  FROM  DISTRACTIONS 

There  is  no  possibility  of  securing  good  results  from 


iS6  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

a  lesson  period  constantly  broken  in  upon  by  distrac- 
tions. The  mind  cannot  do  its  best  work  if  the  atten- 
tion is  diverted  every  few  moments  from  the  train  of 
thought,  requiring  a  new  start  every  now  and  then. 
Every  teacher  has  had  the  experience  of  the  sudden 
drop  in  interest  and  concentration  that  has  come  from 
some  interruption,  and  the  impossibility  of  bringing  the 
class  back  to  the  former  level  after  the  break.  The 
loss  in  a  recitation  disturbed  by  distractions  is  compar- 
able to  the  loss  of  power  and  efficiency  in  stopping  a 
train  of  cars  every  half  mile  throughout  its  run  instead 
of  allowing  it  an  unbroken  trip.  Careful  planning  and 
good  management  can  eliminate  many  of  the  distrac* 
tions  common  to  the  church  school  lesson  hour. 

Distractions  from  classes  reciting  together. — 
The  class  should  have  a  room  or  space  for  its  own  sole 
use,  and  not  be  compelled  to  recite  in  a  large  room 
occupied  by  several  other  classes.  The  older  Chinese 
method  of  education  was  to  have  each  pupil  study  his 
lesson  aloud,  each  seeking  to  drown  out  the  confusion 
by  the  force  of  his  voice.  Many  of  our  church  schools 
of  the  present  day  remind  one  of  this  ancient  method. 
The  church  building  being  planned  primarily  for  adults, 
not  enough  classrooms  are  provided  for  the  children, 
and  it  is  a  common  thing  to  find  half  a  dozen  classes 
grouped  in  the  one  room,  each  constantly  distracted 
by  the  sights  and  sounds  that  so  insistently  appeal  to 
the  senses.  It  is  wholly  impossible  to  do  really  good 
teaching  under  such  conditions. 

Every  church  building  should  provide  classrooms  for 
teaching  its  children.  If  these  cannot  be  had  in  the 
original  edifice,  an  addition  should  be  made  of  a  special 
school  building.  As  a  last  resort,  a  system  of  curtains 
or  movable  partitions  should  be  provided  which  wiU 


THE  TECHNIQUE  OF  TEACHING        157 

Isolate  each  class  from  every  other  class,  and  thereby 
save  at  least  the  visual  distractions  and  perhaps  a  part 
of  the  auditory  distractions.  To  fail  to  do  this  is  to 
cultivate  in  the  child  a  habit  of  inattention  to  the 
lesson,  and  to  kill  his  interest  in  the  church  school  and 
its  work  because  of  its  failure  to  impress  him  or  attract 
his  loyalty. 

Planning  routine  to  prevent  distractions. — Not 
infrequently  a  wholly  unnecessary  distraction  is  caused 
by  a  poorly  planned  method  of  handling  certain  routine 
matters.  The  writer  recently  observed  a  junior  class 
get  under  way  in  what  promised  to  be  a  very  interest- 
ing  and  profitable  lesson.  They  had  an  attractive  lesson 
theme,  a  good  teacher,  a  separate  classroom,  and  seemed 
to  be  mentally  alert.  Soon  after  the  lesson  had  got 
well  started  an  officer  appeared  at  the  door  with  an 
envelope  for  the  collection,  and  the  story  was  stopped 
to  pass  the  envelope  around  the  class.  It  was  not 
possible  after  this  interruption  to  pick  up  the  thread 
of  the  lesson  without  some  loss  of  interest,  but  the 
teacher  was  skillful  and  did  her  best.  She  soon  had  the 
attention  of  the  class  again  and  the  lesson  was  moving 
along  toward  its  most  interesting  part  and  the  practical 
application.  But  just  at  the  most  critical  moment 
another  interruption  occurred;  the  secretary  came  in 
with  the  papers  for  the  class  and  counted  out  the  neces- 
sary supply  while  the  class  looked  on.  It  was  impossible 
now  to  catch  up  the  current  of  interest  again,  but  the 
teacher  tried.  Once  more  she  was  interrupted,  however, 
this  time  by  a  note  containing  some  announcement  that 
had  been  overlooked  in  the  opening  exercises! 

All  such  interruptions  as  these  indicate  mismanage- 
ment and  a  serious  lack  of  foresight.  The  fault  is  not 
wholly  with  the  teacher,  but  also  with  the  polky  and 


158  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

organization  of  the  school  as  a  whole.  The  remedy  is 
for  both  officers  and  teachers  to  use  the  same  business 
sense  and  ability  in  running  the  church  school  that  they 
would  apply  to  any  other  concern.  The  collection  can 
be  taken  at  the  beginning  of  the  lesson  period.  The 
papers  and  lesson  material  can  be  in  the  classroom  or 
in  the  teacher's  hands  before  the  class  assembles,  and 
not  require  distribution  during  the  lesson  period.  Id 
short,  all  matters  of  routine  can  be  so  carefully  fore- 
seen and  provided  for  that  the  class  will  be  wholly  free 
from  all  unnecessary  distractions  from  such  sources. 

Mischief  and  disorder. — ^An  especially  difficult  kind 
of  distraction  to  control  is  the  tendency  to  restlessness, 
mischief,  and  misbehavior  which  prevails  in  certain 
classes  or  on  the  part  of  an  occasional  pupil.  Pupils 
sometimes  feel  that  the  teacher  in  the  church  school 
does  not  possess  the  same  authority  as  that  exercised 
by  the  public-school  teacher,  and  so  take  advantage 
of  this  fact.  The  first  safeguard  against  disorder  in  the 
class  is,  of  course,  to  secure  the  interest  and  loyalty 
of  the  members.  The  ideal  is  for  the  children  to  be 
attentive,  respectful,  and  well  behaved,  not  because 
they  are  required  to,  but  because  their  sense  of  duty 
and  pride  and  their  interest  in  the  work  leads  them  to 
this  kind  of  conduct.  It  is  not  possible,  however,  con- 
tinuously to  reach  this  ideal  with  all  children.  There 
will  be  occasional  cases  of  tendency  to  disorder,  and 
the  spirit  of  mischief  will  sometimes  take  possession 
of  a  class  whose  conduct  is  otherwise  good. 

Whenever  it  becomes  necessary,  the  teacher  should 
not  hesitate  to  take  a  positive  stand  for  order  and  quiet 
in  the  class.  All  inattention  is  contagious.  A  small 
center  of  disturbance  can  easily  spread  until  it  results 
In  a  whole  storm  of  disorder.    Mischief  grows  througli 


THE  TECHNIQUE  OF  TEACHING        159 

the  power  of  suggestion,  and  a  small  beginning  may 
soon  involve  a  whole  class.  There  is  no  place  for  a 
spirit  of  irreverence  and  boisterousness  in  the  church 
school,  and  the  teacher  must  have  for  one  of  his  first 
principles  the  maintenance  of  good  conduct  in  his 
classroom.  No  one  can  tell  any  teacher  just  how  this 
is  to  be  achieved  in  individual  cases,  but  it  must  be 
done.  And  the  teacher  who  cannot  win  control  over 
his  class  would  better  surrender  it  to  another  who 
has  more  of  the  quality  of  leadership  or  mastery  in  his 
make-up,  for  no  worthy,  lasting  religious  impressions 
can  be  given  to  noisy,  boisterous,  and  inattentive  children. 

Distractions  by  the  teacher. — Strange  as  it  may 
seem,  the  teacher  may  himself  be  a  distraction  in  the 
classroom.  Any  striking  mannerism,  any  peculiarity 
of  manner  or  carriage,  extreme  types  of  dress,  or  any 
personal  quality  that  attracts  attention  to  itself  is  a 
distraction  to  the  class.  One  teacher  may  have  a  very 
loud  or  ill-modulated  voice;  another  may  speak  too  low 
to  be  heard  without  too  much  effort;  another  may  fail 
to  articulate  clearly.  Whatever  attracts  attention  to 
the  speech  itself  draws  attention  away  from  the  thought 
back  of  the  speech  and  hinders  the  listener  from  giving 
his  full  powers  to  the  lesson. 

A  distracting  habit  on  the  part  of  some  teachers  is 
to  walk  back  and  forth  before  the  class,  or  to  assume 
awkward  postures  in  standing  or  sitting  before  the 
class,  or  nervously  to  finger  a  book  or  some  object  held 
in  the  hands.  All  these  may  seem  Hke  small  things, 
but  success  or  failure  often  depends  upon  a  conjunction 
of  many  small  things,  each  of  which  in  itself  may  seem 
unimportant.  It  is  often  "the  httle  foxes  that  spoil 
the  vines." 

Avoiding   physical    distractions. — In    the    church 


i6o  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

school,  as  in  the  public  school,  the  physical  conditions 
surrounding  the  recitation  should  be  made  as  favorable 
as  possible.  Not  infrequently  the  children  are  placed 
for  their  lesson  hour  in  seats  that  were  intended  for 
adults,  and  which  are  extremely  uncomfortable  for 
smaller  persons.  The  children's  feet  do  not  touch  the 
floor,  and  their  backs  can  not  secure  a  support;  weari- 
ness, wriggling  and  unrest  are  sure  to  follow.  Some- 
times the  ventilation  of  the  classroom  is  bad,  and  the 
foul  air  breathed  on  one  Sunday  is  carefully  shut  in 
for  use  the  next.  Basement  rooms  are  not  seldom 
damp,  or  they  have  a  bad  odor,  or  the  lighting  is  un- 
satisfactory, or  the  walls  are  streaked,  dim  and  unin- 
viting. If  such  things  seem  relatively  unimportant,  we 
must  remember  that  the  child's  spiritual  life  is  closely 
tied  up  with  the  whole  range  of  his  experiences,  and 
that  such  things  as  lack  of  oxygen  in  the  classroom, 
tired  legs  whose  feet  can  not  touch  the  floor,  eyes  offended 
by  unloveliness,  or  nostrils  assailed  by  unpleasant  odors 
may  get  in  the  way  of  the  soul's  development.  Our 
churches  should  not  rest  satisfied  until  children  in  the 
church  schools  work  under  as  hygienic  and  as  pleasant 
conditions  as  obtain  in  the  best  of  our  public  schools. 

DANGER  POINTS  IN  INSTRUCTION 

It  is  a  well-known  law  in  pedagogy  that  negatives 
are  not  often  inspiring,  and  that  to  hold  before  one 
his  mistakes  is  not  always  the  best  way  of  helping  him 
avoid  them.  Along  with  the  positive  principles  which 
show  what  we  should  do,  however,  it  is  well  occasionally 
to  note  a  few  of  the  danger  points  most  commonly 
met  in  the  classroom. 

Lack  of  definiteness. — This  may  take  the  form  of 
lack  of  definiteness  of  aim  or  purpose.    We  may  merely 


THE  TECHNIQUE  OF  TEACHING        i6i 

"hear"  the  recitation,  or  ask  the  stock  questions  fur- 
nished in  the  lesson  helps,  or  allow  the  discussion  to 
wander  where  it  will,  or  permit  aimless  arguing  or  dis- 
puting on  questions  that  cannot  be  decided  and  that 
in  any  case  possess  no  real  significance. 

Indefiniteness  may  take  the  direction  of  failure  to 
carry  the  thoughts  of  the  lesson  through  to  their  final 
meaning  and  application,  so  that  there  is  no  vital  con- 
nection made  between  the  lesson  truths  and  the  lives 
of  those  we  teach.  Or  we  may  be  indefinite  in  our 
interpretation  of  the  moral  and  religious  values  in- 
herent in  the  lesson,  and  so  fail  to  make  a  sharp  and 
definite  impression  of  understanding  and  conviction  on 
our  pupils.  Our  teaching  must  be  clear-cut  and  pos- 
itive without  being  narrowly  dogmatic  or  opinionated. 
The  truth  we  present  must  have  an  edge,  so  that  it 
may  cleave  its  way  into  the  heart  and  mind  of  the 
learner. 

Dead  levels. — We  need  to  avoid  dead  levels  in  our 
teaching.  This  danger  arises  from  lack  of  mental 
perspective.  It  comes  from  presenting  all  the  points 
of  a  lesson  on  the  same  plane  of  emphasis,  with  a  failure 
to  distinguish  between  the  important  and  the  unim- 
portant. Minor  details  and  incidental  aspects  of  the 
topic  often  receive  the  same  degree  of  stress  that  is 
given  to  more  important  points.  This  results  in  a 
state  of  monotonous  plodding  through  so  much  ma- 
terial without  responding  to  its  varying  shades  of 
meaning  and  value.  Not  only  does  this  type  of  teach- 
ing fail  to  lodge  in  the  mind  of  the  pupil  the  larger  and 
more  important  truths  which  ought  to  become  a  per- 
manent part  of  his  mental  equipment,  but  it  also  fails 
to  train  pupils  how  themselves  to  pick  out  and  appro- 
priate the  significant  parts  of  the  lesson  material.    It 


i62  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

does  not  develop  the  sense  of  value  for  lesson  truths 
which  should  be  trained  through  the  work  of  the  lesson 
hour.  Each  lesson  should  seek  to  impress  and  apply 
a  few  important  truths,  and  everything  else  should  be 
made  to  work  to  this  end.  The  points  we  would  have 
our  pupils  remember,  think  about  and  act  upon  we 
must  be  able  to  make  stand  out  above  all  other  aspects 
of  the  lesson;  they  must  not,  for  want  of  emphasis, 
be  lost  in  a  mass  of  irrelevant  or  monotonous  material 
of  little  value. 

Lack  of  movement  in  recitation. — Some  recitations 
suffer  from  slowness  of  movement  of  the  thought  and 
plan  of  the  lesson.  We  sometimes  say  of  a  book  or  a 
play  or  a  sermon  that  it  was  "slow."  This  is  equiv- 
alent to  saying  that  the  book  or  play  or  sermon  lacks 
movement;  it  dallies  by  the  way,  and  has  uimecessary 
breaks  in  its  continuity,  or  is  slow  in  its  action.  The 
same  principle  applies  in  the  recitation.  Pauses  that 
are  occupied  with  thought  or  meditation  are  not,  of 
course,  wasted;  they  may  even  be  the  very  best  part 
of  the  lesson  period.  But  the  rather  empty  lapses  which 
occur  for  no  reason  except  that  the  teacher  lacks  readi- 
ness and  preparation,  and  does  not  quite  know  at 
every  moment  just  what  he  is  to  do  next,  or  what  topic 
should  at  this  moment  come  in — ^it  is  such  awkward 
and  meaningless  breaks  as  these  that  spoil  the  con- 
tinuity of  thought  and  interest  and  result  in  boredom. 
We  must  remember  that  every  pause  or  interval  of 
mere  empty  waiting  without  expectancy,  or  without 
some  worthy  thought  occupying  the  mind,  is  a  waste 
of  energy,  time,  and  opportunity,  and  also  a  training 
in  inattention. 

Low  standards. — The  acceptance  of  low  standards  of 
preparation  and  response  in  the  recitation  is  fatal  to 


THE  TECHNIQUE  OF  TEACHING        163 

high-grade  work  and  results.  If  it  comes  to  be  ex- 
pected and  taken  as  a  matter  of  course  both  by  teacher 
and  pupils  that  children  shall  come  to  the  class  from 
week  to  week  with  no  previous  study  on  the  lesson, 
then  this  is  precisely  what  they  will  do.  The  standards 
of  the  class  should  make  it  impossible  that  continual 
failure  to  prepare  or  recite  shall  be  accepted  as  the 
natural  and  expected  thing,  or  treated  with  a  spirit 
of  levity.  The  lesson  hour  is  the  very  heart  and  center 
of  the  school  work,  and  failure  here  means  a  breakdown 
of  the  whole  system.  The  standards  of  teacher  and 
class  should  be  such  that  probable  failure  to  do  one's 
part  in  the  recitation  shall  be  looked  forward  to  by 
the  child  with  some  apprehension  and  looked  back  upon 
with  some  regret  if  not  humiliation.  In  order  to  main- 
tain high  standards  of  preparation  the  cooperation  of 
the  home  must  be  secured,  at  least  for  the  younger 
children,  and  parents  must  help  the  child  wisely  and 
sympathetically  in  the  study  of  the  lesson. 

1.  To  what  extent  are  you  able  to  hold  the  attention  of 
your  pupils  in  the  recitation?  Is  their  attention  ready,  or 
do  you  have  to  work  hard  to  get  it  ?  Are  there  any  particu- 
lar ones  who  are  less  attentive  than  the  rest  ?  If  so,  can  you 
discover  the  reason  ?   The  remedy  ? 

2.  To  what  extent  do  you  find  it  necessary  to  appeal  to 
involuntary  attention?  If  you  have  to  make  such  an  ap- 
peal do  you  seek  at  once  to  make  interest  take  hold  to  re- 
tain the  attention? 

3.  What  measures  are  you  using  to  train  your  pupils  in 
the  giving  of  voluntary  attention  when  this  type  is  re- 
quired ?   When  is  volimtary  attention  required  ? 

4.  How  completely  are  your  pupils  usually  interested  in 
the  lessons  ?  As  the  interest  varies  from  time  to  time,  are 
you  studying  the  matter  to  discover  the  secret  of  interest 
on  their  part.    In  so  far  as  interest  fails,  which  of  the  tac- 


i64  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

tors  discussed  in  the  section  on  interest  in  this  chapter  are 
related  to  the  failure  ?  Are  there  still  other  causes  not  men- 
tioned in  this  chapter? 

5.  What  distractions  are  most  common  in  your  dass? 
Can  you  discover  the  cause?  The  remedy?  Do  you  have 
any  unruly  pupils?  If  so,  have  you  done  your  best  to  win 
to  attention  and  interest?  Have  you  the  force  and  de- 
cision necessary  to  bring  the  class  well  under  control? 

6.  What  do  you  consider  your  chief  danger  points  in 
teaching?  Would  it  be  worth  while  for  you  to  have  some 
sympathetic  teacher  friend  visit  your  class  while  you  teach, 
and  then  later  talk  over  with  you  the  points  in  which  you 
could  improve? 

FOR  FURTHER  READING 

Bagley,  Class  Room  Management. 
Betts,  The  Recitation. 
Maxwell,  The  Observation  of  Teaching. 
Strayer  and  Norsworthy,  How  to  Teach. 
Weigle,  The  Pupil  and  the  Teacher. 


CHAPTER  X 
MAKING  TRUTH  VIVID 

Life  is  a  great  unbreakable  unity.  Thought,  feel- 
ing, and  action  belong  together,  and  to  leave  out  one 
destroys  the  quality  and  significance  of  all.  Religious 
growth  and  development  involve  the  same  mental 
powers  that  are  used  in  the  other  affairs  of  Hfe.  The 
child's  training  in  religion  can  advance  no  faster  than 
the  expansion  of  his  grasp  of  thought  and  comprehension, 
the  deepening  of  his  emotions,  and  the  strengthening 
of  his  will. 

It  follows  from  this  that  religious  instruction  must 
call  for  and  use  the  same  activities  of  mind  that  are 
called  for  in  other  phases  of  education.  Not  only  must 
the  feehngs  be  reached  and  the  emotions  stirred,  but 
the  child  must  be  taught  to  think  in  his  religion.  Not 
only  must  trust  and  faith  be  grounded,  but  these  must 
be  made  intelligent.  Not  only  must  the  spirit  of  wor- 
ship be  cultivated,  but  the  child  must  know  Whom 
and  why  he  worships.  Not  only  must  loyalties  be 
secured,  but  these  must  grow  out  of  a  realization  of  the 
cost  and  worth  of  the  cause  or  object  to  which  loyalty 
attaches.  Religious  teaching  must  therefore  appeal  to 
the  whole  mind.  Besides  appealing  to  the  emotions  and 
will  it  must  make  use  of  and  train  the  power  of  thought^ 
of  imagination^  of  memory;  it  must  through  their  agency 
make  truth  vivid,  real,  and  lasting,  and  so  lay  the 
foimdation  for  spiritual  feeling  and  devotion. 

LEARNING  TO  THINK  IN  RELIGION 

Much  has  been  gained  in  teaching  religion  when  we 

165 


166  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

have  brought  the  child  to  see  that  understandings  reas^, 
and  common  sense  are  as  necessary  and  as  possible  here 
as  in  other  fields  of  learning.  This  does  not  mean  that 
there  are  not  many  things  in  religion  that  are  beyond 
the  grasp  and  comprehension  of  even  the  greatest 
minds,  to  say  nothing  of  the  undeveloped  mind  of  the 
child.  It  means,  rather,  that  where  we  fail  to  grasp 
or  understand  it  is  because  of  the  bigness  of  the  prob- 
lem, or  because  of  its  unknowableness,  and  not  because 
its  solution  violates  the  laws  of  thought  and  reason. 

The  reign  of  law,  the  inexorable  working  of  cause 
and  effect,  and  the  application  of  reason  to  religious 
matters  should  be  conveyed  to  the  child  in  his  earliest 
impressions  of  religion.  For  example,  the  child  has 
learned  a  valuable  lesson  when  he  has  comprehended 
that  God  asks  obedience  of  his  children,  not  just  for 
the  sake  of  compelling  obedience,  but  because  obe- 
dience to  God's  law  is  the  only  way  to  happy  and 
successful  living.  The  youth  has  grasped  a  great  truth 
when  it  becomes  clear  to  his  understanding  that  Jesus 
said,  "To  him  that  hath  shall  be  given,"  not  from 
any  failure  to  sympathize  with  the  one  who  might  be 
short  in  his  share,  but  because  this  is  the  great  and  funda- 
mental law  of  being  to  which  even  Jesus  himself  was 
subject;  and  that  when  Paul  said,  "Whatsoever  a  man 
soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap,"  he  was  not  exacting 
an  arbitrary  penalty,  but  expressing  the  inevitable 
working  of  a  great  law.  The  boy  who  defined  faith  as 
"believing  something  you  know  can't  be  true*'  had 
been  badly  taught  concerning  faith. 

Religious  truth  does  not  contradict  reason. — 
To  begin  with,  while  all  of  us  come  to  believe  many 
things  that  we  cannot  fully  understand,  not  even 
the   child   should  be  asked   to   believe  what  plainly 


MAKING  TRUTH  VIVID  167 

contradicts  common  sense  and  so  puts  too  great 
a  strain  on  credulity.  In  a  certain  Sunday  school 
class  the  lesson  was  about  Peter  going  up  on  the  house- 
top to  pray,  and  the  vision  that  befell  him  there.  This 
class  of  boys,  living  in  a  small  village,  had  had 
no  experience  with  any  kind  of  housetop  except 
that  formed  of  a  sharply  sloping  roof.  Therefore 
the  story  looked  improbable  to  them,  and  one 
boy  asked  how  Peter  could  sleep  up  on  the  roof 
and  keep  from  falling  off.  The  teacher,  also  unin- 
formed concerning  the  flat  roofs  of  Oriental  houses, 
answered,  "John,  you  must  remember  that  with  God 
all  things  are  possible."  And  John  had  that  day  had 
the  seeds  of  skepticism  planted  in  his  inquiring  mind. 
Another  teacher,  thinking  to  allay  any  tendency  on 
the  part  of  his  class  to  question  the  literal  accuracy 
of  the  story  of  Jonah  and  the  whale,  said,  "This  story 
is  in  the  Bible,  and  we  must  believe  it,  for  whatever 
is  in  the  Bible  is  true;  and  if  the  Bible  were  to  say 
that  Jonah  swallowed  the  whale  that  would  be  true, 
and  we  would  have  to  believe  that  also."  But  who 
can  doubt  that,  with  boys  and  girls  trained  in  the 
schools  and  by  their  contact  with  life  itself  to  think, 
such  an  invitation  to  lay  aside  all  reason  and  common 
sense  can  do  other  in  the  long  run  than  to  weaken 
confidence  in  the  Bible,  and  so  lessen  the  significance 
of  many  of  its  beautiful  lessons? 

True  thinking  about  Bible  truths. — What,  then, 
shall  we  teach  the  child  about  the  literalness  of  the 
Bible?  Nothing.  This  is  not  a  question  for  childhood. 
The  Bible  should  be  brought  to  the  child  in  the  same 
spirit  as  any  other  book,  except  with  a  deep  spirit  of 
reverence  and  appreciation  not  due  other  books.  Parts 
of  the  Bible  are  plainly  history,  and  as  accurate  as 


i68  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

history  of  other  kinds  is.  Other  parts  are  accounts 
of  the  lives  of  people,  and  the  descriptions  are  wonder- 
fully vivid  and  true  to  life.  Other  parts  are  plainly 
poetry,  and  should  be  read  and  interpreted  as  poetry. 
Other  parts  are  clearly  the  stories  and  legends  current 
in  the  days  when  the  accounts  were  written,  and  should 
be  read  as  other  stories  and  legends  are  read.  The 
great  question  is  not  the  problem  of  the  literal  or  the 
figurative  nature  of  the  truth,  but  the  problem  of  dis- 
covering for  the  child  the  rich  nugget  of  spiritual  wisdom 
which  is  always  there. 

When  the  young  child  first  hears  the  entrancing 
Bible  stories  he  does  not  think  anything  about  their 
literalness;  he  only  enjoys,  and  perhaps  dimly  senses 
the  hidden  lesson  or  truth  they  contain.  This  is  as  it 
should  be.  Later,  when  thought,  judgment,  and  dis- 
crimination are  developing  and  beginning  to  play  their 
part  in  the  expanding  mind,  questions  are  sure  to  arise 
at  certain  points.    This  is  also  as  it  should  be. 

When  such  questions  arise  let  us  meet  them  frankly 
and  wisely.  Let  us  have  the  spiritual  vision  and  the 
reverence  for  truth  that  will  enable  us,  for  example, 
to  show  the  child  how  the  servants  of  God  in  those 
ancient  times  used  the  bold,  picturesque  figure  of  "feath- 
ers" and  "wings"  to  express  the  brooding  love  and 
care  of  God;  how  they  told  the  wonderful  story  of 
God's  creation  of  the  world  in  the  most  beautiful  ac- 
count they  could  conceive;  how  they  showed  forth 
God's  care  for  his  children,  his  companionship  with 
them,  and  man's  tendency  to  sin  and  disobedience  by 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  stories  ever  written,  this 
story  having  its  scene  laid  in  the  garden  of  Eden;  how 
these  writers  always  set  down  what  they  beUeved  to 
be  true,  and  how,  though  they  might  sometimes  have 


MAKING  TRUTH  VIVID  169 

been  mistaken  as  to  the  actual  facts,  they  never  missed 
presenting  the  great  lesson  or  deep  spiritual  truth  that 
God  would  have  us  know. 

Protecting  the  child  against  intellectual  difficul- 
ties.— Children  taught  the  Bible  in  this  reasonable  but 
reverent  way  will  be  saved  many  intellectual  diflSculties 
as  they  grow  older.  Their  reverence  and  respect  for 
the  Bible  will  never  suffer  from  the  necessity  of  at- 
tempting to  force  their  faith  to  accept  what  their  in- 
tellect contradicts.  They  will  not  be  troubled  by  the 
grave  doubts  and  misgivings  which  attack  so  many 
adolescents  during  the  time  when  they  are  working 
out  their  mental  and  spiritual  adjustment  to  the  new 
world  of  individual  responsibility  which  they  have 
discovered.  They  will,  without  strain  or  questioning, 
come  to  accept  the  Bible  for  what  it  is — the  great 
Source  Book  of  spiritual  wisdom,  its  pages  bearing  the 
imprint  of  divine  inspiration  and  guidance,  and  also 
of  human  imperfections  and  greatness. 

The  developing  child  should,  therefore,  be  encouraged 
to  use  his  reason,  his  thought,  his  judgment  and  dis- 
crimination in  his  study  of  religion  precisely  as  in  other 
things.  His  questions  should  never  be  ignored,  nor 
suppressed,  nor  treated  as  something  unworthy  and 
sinful.  The  doubts,  even,  which  are  somewhat  char- 
acteristic of  a  stage  of  adolescent  reconstruction,  may 
be  made  the  stepping-stone  to  higher  reaches  of  faith 
and  understanding. 

The  youth  who  went  to  his  pastor  with  certain  ques- 
tionings and  doubts,  and  who  was  told  that  these  were 
"the  promptings  of  Satan,"  and  that  they  "must  not 
be  dwelt  upon,  but  resolutely  be  put  out  of  the  mind," 
was  not  fairly  nor  honestly  treated  by  one  from  whom 
he  had  a  right  to  expect  wiser  guidance.    He  returned 


I70  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

from  the  interview  rebellious  and  bitter,  and  it  was 
with  much  spiritual  agony  and  sweating  of  blood  that 
he  fought  his  own  way  through  to  a  solution  which 
ought  to  have  been  made  easy  for  him  by  wise  enlight- 
enment and  sympathetic  counsel. 

Reverent  seekers  after  truth. — Religion  requires 
the  mind  at  its  best.  There  is  nothing  about  religion 
that  will  not  bear  full  thought  and  investigation.  We 
are  not  asked  to  lay  aside  any  part  of  our  powers,  can 
not  lay  any  part  of  them  aside,  if  we  would  attain  to 
full  religious  growth  and  stature.  Let  us  therefore 
traiQ  our  children  to  think  as  they  study  religion.  Let 
us  lead  them  to  ask  and  inquire.  Let  us  train  them  to 
investigate  and  test.  Let  us  teach  them  that  they 
never  need  be  afraid  of  truth,  since  no  bit  of  truth  ever 
conflicts  with  or  contradicts  any  other  truth;  let  us 
rather  encourage  them  reverently  and  with  open  hearts 
and  minds  diligently  to  seek  the  truth,  and  then  dare 
to  follow  wJiere  it  leads, 

THE  APPEAL  TO  IMAGINATION 

Imagination,  the  power  of  the  mind  that  pictures 
and  makes  real,  is  a  key  to  vivid  and  lasting  impres- 
sions. Unless  the  imagination  recreates  the  scenes 
described  in  the  story,  or  vivifies  the  events  of  the 
lesson,  they  will  have  little  meaning  to  the  child  and 
appeal  but  little  to  his  interest. 

It  is  imagination  that  enables  its  possessor  to  take 
the  images  suggested  in  the  account  of  a  battle  and 
build  them  together  into  the  mass  of  struggling  soldiers, 
roaring  cannon,  whistling  bullets,  and  bursting  shells. 
It  is  imagination  that  makes  it  possible  while  reading 
the  words  of  the  poem  to  construct  the  picture  which 
was  in  the  mind  of  the  author  as  he  wrote  "The  Village 


MAKING  TRUTH  VIVID  171 

Blacksmith,"  the  twenty- third  psakn,  or  "Snowbound," 
and  thereby  enables  the  reader  himself  to  take  part 
in  the  throbbing  scenes  of  life  and  action.  Without 
imagination  one  may  repeat  the  words  which  describe 
an  act  or  an  event,  may  even  conmiit  them  to  memory 
or  pass  an  examination  upon  them,  but  the  living 
reality  will  forever  escape  him.  It  is  imagination  that 
will  save  the  beautiful  stories  and  narratives  of  the 
Bible  from  being  so  many  dead  words,  without  appeal 
to   the   child. 

Imagination  required  in  the  study  of  religion. — 
In  the  teaching  of  religion  we  are  especially  dependent 
on  the  child's  use  of  his  imagination.  With  younger 
children  the  instruction  largely  takes  the  form  of  stories, 
which  must  be  appropriated  and  understood  through  the 
imagination  or  not  at  all.  The  whole  Bible  account 
deals  with  people,  places,  and  events  distant  in  time 
and  strange  to  the  child  in  manner  of  life  and  customs. 
The  Bible  itself  abounds  in  pictorial  descriptions.  The 
missionary  enterprises  of  the  church  lead  into  strange 
lands  and  introduce  strange  people.  The  study  of 
the  Hves  and  characters  of  great  men  and  women  and 
their  deeds  of  service  in  our  own  land  takes  the  child 
out  of  the  range  of  his  own  immediate  observation  and 
experience.  The  understanding  of  God  and  of  Jesus 
— all  of  these  things  lose  in  significance  or  are  in  large 
degree  incomprehensible  unless  approached  with  a  vivid 
and  glowing  imagination. 

Many  older  persons  confess  that  the  Bible  times, 
places,  and  people  were  all  very  unreal  to  them  while 
in  the  Sunday  school,  and  that  it  hardly  occurred  to 
them  that  these  descriptions  and  narratives  were  truly 
about  men  and  women  like  ourselves.  Hence  the  most 
valuable  part  of  their  instruction  was  lost 


172  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

Limitations  of  imagination. — Since  childhood  is  the 
age  of  imagination,  we  might  naturally  expect  that  it 
would  be  no  trouble  to  secure  ready  response  from  the 
child's  imagination.  But  we  must  not  assume  too  much 
about  the  early  power  of  imagination.  It  is  true  that 
the  child's  imagination  is  ready  and  active;  but  it  is 
not  yet  ready  for  the  more  difficult  and  complex  pic- 
turing we  sometimes  require  of  it,  for  imagination  de- 
pends for  its  material  on  the  store  of  images  accumulated 
from  former  experience;  and  images  are  the  result  of 
past  observation,  of  percepts,  and  sensory  experiences. 
The  imagination  can  build  no  mental  structures  without 
the  stuff  with  which  to  build;  it  is  limited  to  the  ma- 
terial on  hand.  The  Indians  never  dreamed  of  a  heaven 
with  streets  of  gold  and  a  great  white  throne;  for  their 
experiences  had  given  them  no  knowledge  of  such 
things.  They  therefore  made  their  heaven  out  of  the 
"Happy  Hunting  Grounds,"  of  which  they  had  many 
images. 

Many  Chicago  school  children  who  were  asked  to 
compare  the  height  of  a  mountain  with  that  of  a  tall 
factory  chimney  said  that  the  chimney  was  higher, 
because  the  mountain  "does  not  go  straight  up"  like 
the  chimney.  These  children  had  learned  and  recited 
that  a  mountain  "is  an  elevation  of  land  a  thousand 
or  more  than  a  thousand  feet  in  height,"  but  their  imag- 
ination failed  to  picture  the  mountain,  since  not  even 
the  smallest  mountain  nor  a  high  hill  had  ever  been 
actually  present  to  their  observation.  Small  wonder, 
then,  that  Sunday  school  children  have  some  trouble, 
living  as  they  do  in  these  modem  times,  to  picture 
ancient  times  and  peoples  who  were  so  different  from 
any  with  which  their  experience  has  had  to  deal! 

Guiding  principles. — The  skillful  teacher  knows  how 


MAKING  TRUTH  VIVID  173 

to  help  the  child  use  his  imagination.    The  following 
laws  or  principles  will  aid  in  such  training: 

1.  Relate  the  new  scene  or  picture  with  something 
similar  in  the  child's  experience.  The  desert  is  like  the 
sandy  waste  or  the  barren  and  stony  hillside  with 
which  the  children  are  acquainted.  The  square,  flat- 
topped  houses  of  eastern  lands  have  their  approximate 
counterpart  in  occasional  buildings  to  be  found  in 
almost  any  modem  community.  The  rivers  and  lakes 
of  Bible  lands  may  be  compared  with  rivers  and  lakes 
near  at  hand.  The  manner  of  cooking  and  serving 
food  under  primitive  conditions  was  not  so  different 
from  our  own  method  on  picnics  and  excursion  days. 
While  the  life  and  work  of  the  shepherd  have  changed, 
we  still  have  the  sheep.  The  walls  of  the  ancient  city 
can  be  seen  in  miniature  in  stone  and  concrete  em- 
bankments, or  even  the  stone  fences  common  in  some 
sections. 

The  main  thing  is  to  get  some  starting  point  in  actual 
observation  from  which  the  child  can  proceed.  The 
teacher  must  then  help  the  child  to  modify  from  the 
actual  in  such  a  way  as  to  picture  the  object  or  place 
described  as  nearly  true  to  reality  as  possible.  The 
child  who  said,  "A  mountain  is  a  mound  of  earth  with 
brush  growing  on  it"  had  been  shown  a  hillock  covered 
with  growing  brush  and  had  been  told  that  the  moun- 
tain was  like  this,  only  bigger.  The  imagination  had 
not  been  suflSiciently  stimulated  to  realize  the  significant 
differences  and  to  picture  the  real  mountain  from  the 
miniature  suggestion. 

2.  Articles  and  objects  from  ancient  times  or  from 
other  lands  may  occasionally  be  secured  to  show  the  chil- 
dren. Even  if  such  objects  may  not  date  back  to  Bible 
times,  they  are  still  useful  as  a  vantage  pcant  for  the 


174  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

imagination.  A  modem  copy  of  the  old-time  Oriental 
lamp,  a  candelabrum,  a  pair  of  sandals,  a  turban,  a 
robe,  or  garment  such  as  the  ancients  wore — these 
accompanied  by  intelligent  description  of  the  times 
and  places  to  which  they  belonged  are  all  a  stimulus 
to  the  child's  imagination  which  should  not  be  over- 
looked. The  very  fact  that  they  suggest  other  peoples 
and  other  modes  of  living  than  our  own  is  an  invita- 
tion and  incentive  to  the  mind  to  reach  out  beyond 
the  immediate  and  the  familiar  to  the  new  and  the 
strange. 

3.  Pictures  can  be  made  a  great  help  to  the  hnagination,_ 
In  the  better  type  of  our  church  schools  we  are  now 
making  free  use  of  pictures  as  teaching  material.  It 
is  not  always  enough,  however,  merely  to  place  the 
picture  before  the  child.  It  requires  a  certain  fund 
of  information  and  interest  in  order  to  see  in  a  picture 
what  it  is  intended  to  convey.  The  child  cannot  get 
from  the  picture  more  than  he  brings  to  it.  The  teacher 
may  therefore  need  to  give  the  picture  its  proper  setting 
by  describing  the  kind  of  life  or  the  type  of  action  or 
event  with  which  it  deals.  He  may  need  to  ask  ques- 
tions, and  make  suggestions  in  order  to  be  sure  that 
the  child  sees  in  the  picture  the  interesting  and  im- 
portant things,  and  that  his  imagination  carries  out 
beyond  what  is  actually  presented  in  the  picture  itself 
to  what  it  suggests.  While  the  first  response  of  the 
child  to  a  picture,  as  to  a  story,  should  be  that  of  enjoy- 
ment and  interest,  this  does  not  mean  that  the  picture, 
like  the  story,  may  not  reach  much  deeper  than  the 
immediate  interest  and  enjoyment.  The  picture  which 
has  failed  to  stimulate  the  child's  imagination  to  see 
much  more  than  the  picture  contains  has  failed  of  one 
of  its  chief  objects. 


MAKING  TRUTH  VIVID  175 

4.  Stimulate  the  imagination  by  use  of  vivid  descrip- 
tions and  thought-provoking  questions.  Every  teacher, 
whether  of  young  children  or  of  older  ones,  should 
strive  to  be  a  good  teller  of  stories  and  a  good  user  of 
illustrations.  This  requires  study  and  practice,  but 
it  is  worth  the  cost — even  outside  of  the  classroom. 
The  good  story-teller  must  be  able  to  speak  freely, 
easily,  and  naturally.  He  must  have  a  sense  of  the 
important  and  significant  in  a  story  or  illustration,  and 
be  able  to  work  to  a  climax.  He  must  know  just  how 
much  of  detail  to  use  to  appeal  to  the  imagination  to 
supply  the  remainder,  and  not  employ  so  great  an 
amount  of  detail  as  to  leave  nothing  to  the  imagination 
of  the  listener.  He  must  himself  enter  fully  into  the 
spirit  and  enthusiasm  of  the  story,  and  must  have  his 
own  imagination  filled  with  the  pictures  he  would 
create  in  his  pupils'  minds.  He  must  himself  enjoy  the 
story  or  the  illustration,  and  thus  be  able  in  his  ex- 
pression and  manner  to  suggest  the  response  he  desires 
from  the  children.  Well  told  stories  that  have  in  them 
the  dramatic  quality  can  hardly  fail  to  stir  the  most 
sluggish  imagination  and  prepare  it  for  the  important 
part  it  must  play  in  the  child's  religious  develop- 
ment. 

Skillfully  used  questions  and  suggestions  can  be 
made  an  important  means  of  stimulating  the  imagina- 
tion. Such  helps  as:  Do  you  think  the  sea  of  GaUlee 
looked  like  the  lake  (here  name  one  near  at  hand) 
which  you  know?  How  did  it  differ?  What  tree  have 
you  in  mind  which  is  about  the  same  size  as  the  fig 
tree  in  the  lesson?  How  does  it  differ  in  appearance? 
Close  your  eyes  and  try  to  see  in  your  mind  just  how 
the  river  looked  where  the  baby  Moses  was  found. 
Have  you  ever  seen  a  man  who  you  think  looks  much 


176  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION, 

as  Elijah  must  have  looked?  Describe  him.  If  you 
were  going  to  make  a  coat  like  the  one  Joseph  wore, 
what  colors  would  you  select?  What  kind  of  cloth? 
VVhat  would  be  the  cut  or  shape  of  it? — Hardly  a  lesson 
period  will  pass  without  many  opportunities  for  wise 
questions  whose  chief  purpose  is  to  make  real  and 
vivid  to  the  child  the  persons  or  places  described,  and 
so  add  to  their  significance  to  him. 

5.  Dramatic  representation  can  he  used  as  an  incen- 
tive to  the  imagination.  Children  easily  and  naturally 
imagine  themselves  to  be  some  other  person,  and 
often  play  at  being  nurse  or  school  teacher  or  doctor 
or  preacher.  Nearly  every  child  possesses  a  large 
measure  of  the  dramatic  impulse,  and  is  something 
of  an  actor.  It  is  great  fun  for  children  to  "tog  up" 
and  to  "show  off"  in  their  play.  And  not  only  is  all 
this  an  expression  of  imagination  actively  at  work, 
but  such  activities  are  themselves  a  great  stimulus 
to  the  imagination.  The  child  who  has  dressed  up 
as  George  Washington  and  impersonated  him  in  some 
ceremonial  or  on  a  public  occasion  will  ever  after  feel 
a  closer  reality  in  the  life  and  work  of  Washington 
than  would  come  from  mere  reading  about  him.  A 
group  of  children  who  have  acted  out  the  story  of  the 
good  Samaritan  will  get  a  little  closer  to  its  inner  mean- 
ing than  merely  to  hear  the  story  told.  The  girl  who 
has  taken  the  part  of  Esther  appearing  before  the 
king  in  behalf  of  her  people  will  realize  a  little  more 
fully  from  that  experience  what  devotion  and  courage 
were  required  from  the  real  Esther.  A  class  who  have 
participated  in  a  pageant  of  the  Nativity  will  always 
be  a  little  nearer  to  the  original  event  than  if  their 
imaginations  had  not  been  called  upon  to  make  real 
the  characters  and  incidents. 


MAKING  TRUTH  VIVID  177 

USING  THE  MEMORY 

The  memory  should  play  an  important  part  in  re- 
ligion. Gems  from  the  Bible,  stories,  characters,  and 
events,  inspiring  thoughts  and  maxims,  and  many 
other  such  things  should  become  a  permanent  part 
of  the  furnishing  of  the  mind,  recorded  and  faithfully 
preserved  by  the  memory. 

Laws  of  use  of  memory. — The  laws  by  which  the 
memory  works  have  been  thoroughly  studied  and  care- 
fully described,  and  should  be  fully  understood  by 
every  teacher.  Further  than  this,  they  should  he  faith- 
fully observed  in  all  memory  work.  These  laws  may  be 
stated  as  follows: 

1.  The  law  of  complete  registration.  The  first  act 
in  the  memory  process  is  fully  and  completely  to  register, 
or  learn^  the  matter  to  be  retained.  The  retention  can 
never  be  better  than  the  registration  of  the  facts  given 
into  the  memory's  keeping.  Half-learned  matter  easily 
slips  away,  never  having  been  completely  impressed 
on  the  mind.  It  is  possible  to  lose  both  eiOfort  and 
efficiency  by  committing  a  verse  of  a  poem  barely  up 
to  the  point  where  it  can  doubtfully  be  repeated  instead 
of  giving  it  the  relatively  small  amount  of  additional 
study  and  practice  which  would  register  it  firmly  and 
completely.  Whatever  is  worth  committing  to  memory 
should  therefore  be  carried  past  the  barely  known 
stage  and  committed  fully  and  completely. 

2.  The  law  of  multiple  association.  This  only  means 
that  the  new  facts  learned  shall  be  related  as  closely 
as  may  be  to  matter  already  in  the  mind.  And  this 
is  equivalent  to  saying  that  the  material  learned  shall 
be  understood,  its  meaning  grasped  and  its  significance 
comprehended.  To  understand  for  yourself  the  value 
of  association,  make  this  experiment:    Have  some  one 


178  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

write  down  a  list  of  ten  unrelated  words  in  a  column, 
and  hold  the  list  before  you  while  you  have  time  to 
read  it  over  just  once  slowly  and  carefully.  Now  try 
repeating  the  words  in  order  from  memory.  Next, 
have  your  friend  write  ten  other  words  which  this  time 
form  a  connected  sentence.  After  reading  these  words 
over  onc^  as  you  did  the  first  list,  try  repeating  them 
in  order.  You  find  that  you  have  much  trouble  to 
memorize  the  first  list,  while  the  second  presents  no 
difficulty  at  all.  The  difference  lies  in  the  fact  that 
the  words  of  the  first  list  were  unrelated,  lacking  all 
associative  connections  with  each  other,  while  those 
of  the  second  list  formed  a  connected  chain  of  asso- 
ciations. 

It  is  possible  to  give  the  child  bibKcal  or  other  matter 
to  memorize  that  has  little  more  meaning  to  him  than 
the  list  of  unrelated  words  have  to  us.  For  example, 
this  text  is  required  of  primary  and  junior  children 
in  a  lesson  series:  "Ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the 
truth  shall  make  you  free."  And  this:  "Let  us  there- 
fore draw  near  with  boldness  unto  the  throne  of  grace, 
that  we  may  receive  mercy,  and  may  find  grace  to  help 
us  in  time  of  need."  It  is  evident  that  younger  chil- 
dren could  by  no  possibility  understand  either  of  these 
beautiful  passages,  and  hence  in  committing  them  will 
only  be  learning  so  many  unrelated  words. 

The  same  is  true  of  church  catechisms.  The  mem- 
orizing of  such  material  will  be  difficult  and  unpleasant, 
and  no  value  will  come  from  it.  The  most  likely  out- 
come of  such  ill-advised  requirements  is  to  discourage 
the  child  and  make  him  dislike  the  church  school  and 
all  its  work.  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  the  child 
will  understand  the  full  meaning  of  every  bit  of  matter 
suitable  for  him  to  memorize;  this  will  have  to  await 


MAKING  TRUTH  VIVID  179 

broader  experience  and  fuller  development.  The  ma- 
terial should,  however,  be  sufficiently  comprehended 
that  its  general  meaning  is  clear  and  its  significance 
understood. 

3.  The  law  of  vividness  of  impression.  The  relation 
of  vividness  of  impression  to  learning  has  already  been 
discussed  in  another  chapter.  In  no  one  of  the  mind's 
activities  is  vividness  a  more  important  factor  than  in 
memorizing.  Matter  committed  under  the  stimulus 
of  high  interest  and  keen  attention  is  relatively  secure, 
while  matter  committed  under  slack  concentration  is 
sure  to  fade  quickly  from  the  memory.  Songs  can 
therefore  best  be  committed  under  the  elation  of  the 
interesting  singing  of  the  words;  a  verse  of  poetry, 
when  the  mind  is  alert  and  the  feelings  aroused  by  a 
story  in  which  the  sentiment  of  the  verse  fits;  a  prayer 
when  the  spirit  of  devotion  has  been  quickened  by 
worship.  To  insure  full  vividness  the  imagination 
must  also  be  called  upon  to  picture  and  make  real  such 
parts  of  memory  material  as  contain  imagery. 

4.  The  law  of  repetition.  For  most  minds  memory 
depends  on  repetition.  The  impressions  must  be  deep- 
ened and  made  lasting  by  being  stamped  again  and 
again  on  the  mind.  The  neurons  of  the  brain  which 
do  the  work  of  retaining  and  recalKng  must  be  made 
to  repeat  the  process  over  and  over  until  their  action  is 
secure.  It  is  therefore  not  enough  to  make  sure  that 
the  child  has  his  memory  material  committed  for  this 
particular  Sunday.  If  the  matter  was  worth  com- 
mitting in  the  first  place,  it  is  worth  keeping  permanently. 
If  it  is  to  be  kept  permanently,  it  must  be  frequently 
reviewed;  for  otherwise  it  will  surely  be  forgotten. 
It  is  to  be  feared  that  much,  if  not  most,  of  the  matter 
memorized  by  the  pupils  in  many  church  schools  lasts 


i8o  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

only  long  enough  to  show  the  teacher  that  it  has  once 
been  learned,  and  that  not  many  children  know  in  any 
permanent  sense  the  Bible  passages  they  have  committed. 
In  so  far  as  this  is  true  it  would  be  much  better  to 
select  a  smaller  amount  of  the  choicest  and  best  adapted 
material  to  be  found,  and  then  so  thoroughly  teach 
this  that  it  is  permanently  retained. 

5.  The  law  of  wholes  instead  of  parts.  Many  persons 
in  setting  at  work  to  commit  a  poem,  a  Bible  passage, 
a  psalm  have  a  tendency  to  learn  it  first  by  verses  or 
sections  and  then  put  the  parts  together  to  form  the 
whole.  Tests  upon  the  memory  have  shown  that  this 
is  a  less  economical  and  efficient  method  than  from  the 
first  to  commit  the  material  as  a  whole.  This  method 
requires  that  we  go  over  all  of  it  completely  from  be- 
ginning to  end,  then  over  it  again,  and  so  on  until  we 
can  repeat  much  of  it  without  reference  to  the  text. 
We  then  refer  to  the  text  for  what  the  memory  has  not 
yet  grasped,  requiring  the  memory  to  repeat  all  that 
has  been  committed,  until  the  whole  is  in  this  manner 
fully  learned.  The  method  of  learning  by  wholes  not 
only  requires  less  time  and  effort,  but  gives  a  better 
sense  of  unity  in  the  matter  committed. 

6.  The  law  of  divided  practice.  If  to  learn  a  certain 
piece  of  material  the  child  must  go  over  it,  say,  fifteen 
times,  the  results  are  much  better  if  the  whole  number 
of  repetitions  are  not  carried  out  at  one  time.  Time 
seems  necessary  to  give  the  associations  an  oppor- 
tunity to  set  up  their  relationships;  also,  the  interval 
between  repetitions  allows  the  parts  that  are  hardest 
to  commit  to  begin  fading  out,  and  thereby  reveal 
where  further  practice  is  demanded.  Where  songs, 
Bible  verses,  or  other  material  are  committed  in  the 
lesson  hour,  provision  ought  to  be  made  for  the  children 


MAKING  TRUTH  VIVID  i8i 

to  continue  study  and  practice  on  the  material  at  home 
during  the  week.  The  so-called  cramming  process  of 
learning  will  not  work  any  better  in  the  church  school 
than  in  the  day-school  lessons. 

7.  The  law  of  motivation.  Like  other  activities  of 
the  mind,  memory  works  best  under  the  stimulus  of 
some  appealing  motive.  The  very  best  possible  motive 
is,  of  course,  an  interest  in  and  love  for  the  matter 
committed.  This  kind  of  response  can  hardly  be  ex- 
pected, however,  in  all  of  the  material  children  are 
asked  to  commit.  It  is  necessary  to  use  additional 
motives  to  secure  full  effort.  The  approval  of  the 
teacher  and  parents,  the  child's  standing  in  the  class, 
and  his  own  sense  of  achievement  are  some  of  the  mo- 
tives that  should  be  employed. 

A  very  powerful  motive  not  always  sufficiently  made 
use  of  is  the  wider  social  motive  that  comes  from  work- 
ing in  groups  for  a  particular  end.  For  example,  a 
school  or  class  pageant  based  on  some  biblical  story 
or  religious  event  has  the  effect  of  centralizing  effort 
and  stimulating  endeavor  to  a  degree  impossible  in 
individual  work.  Hymns  and  songs  are  committed, 
Bible  passages  or  other  reKgious  material  learned,  stories 
mastered,  characters  studied  and  their  words  com- 
mitted under  the  stress  of  an  immediate  need  for  them 
in  order  to  take  one's  part  in  a  social  group  and  prove 
one's  mastery  before  an  audience  of  interested  Ksteners. 
The  church  school  can  with  great  advantage  centralize 
more  of  its  religious  memory  work  in  preparation  for 
such  special  occasions  as  Easter,  Christmas,  Thanks- 
giving, or  other  church  celebrations  or  pageants. 

I.  What  reasons  can  you  give  why  children  should  be 
taught  to  think  in  their  study  of  religion  just  as  in  the  study 
of  any  other  subject  ?   Do  you  find  a  thoughtful  attitude  on 


i82  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

the  part  of  your  class?    What  methods  do  you  use  to  en- 
courage reverent  thinking  in  religion  ? 

2.  One  thinks  best  in  connection  with  some  question  or 
problem  which  he  wishes  to  have  answered.  Do  you  plan 
in  connection  with  your  preparation  of  the  lesson  to  bring 
out  some  definite  problem  suited  to  the  age  of  your  class 
and  help  your  pupils  think  it  through  to  a  solution? 

3.  What  evidences  can  you  suggest  from  your  class  work 
which  show  that  children  readily  think  upon  any  problem 
that  interests  them?  Have  your  pupils  asked  questions 
showing  that  they  are  thinking?  When  such  questions  are 
asked,  how  do  you  treat  them  ? 

4.  What  lessons  of  recent  date  in  yovir  work  have  you 
in  mind  which  especially  required  the  use  of  imagination? 
Can  you  judge  the  degree  to  which  the  descriptive  parts  of 
the  lessons  appeal  to  your  pupils  as  real? 

5.  How  successfully  do  you  feel  that  you  are  applying 
the  principles  for  the  use  of  the  imagination?  Do  you 
definitely  seek  to  apply  these  principles  in  your  lessons? 
Which  of  these  is  probably  the  hardest  to  apply?  What  is 
your  method  of  seeking  its  application? 

6.  Are  your  pupils  good  in  memory  work?  Do  you  ever 
give  them  material  to  memorize  the  meaning  of  which  is 
not  wholly  clear  to  them?  What  help  do  you  give  the 
children  when  you  assign  them  memory  work?  Do  you 
instruct  them  how  to  memorize  what  you  assign  ?  To  what 
extent  are  you  following  the  laws  of  memory  as  stated  in 
the  chapter? 

FOR  FURTHER  READING 

Betts,  The  Mind  and  Its  Education. 

Dewey,  How  We  Think. 

Coe,  Education  in  Religion  and  Morals. 


CHAPTER  XI 
TYPES  OF  TEACHING 

One  of  the  surest  tests  of  the  skillful  teacher  is  his 
ability  to  adapt  his  instruction  to  the  child,  to  the  sub- 
ject matter,  and  to  the  occasion — that  is,  to  the  aim. 
Teaching  must  differ  in  its  type  with  the  age;  the  primary 
child  and  the  older  youth  require  different  methods. 
It  must  differ  with  the  kind  of  material  to  be  presented; 
a  lesson  whose  chief  aim  is  to  give  information  must 
be  differently  presented  from  a  lesson  whose  aim  is  to 
enforce  some  moral  or  religious  truth.  It  must  differ 
with  the  occasion;  a  lesson  taught  a  group  of  children 
who  have  had  no  previous  study  or  preparation  on  it 
will  demand  different  treatment  from  a  lesson  which 
has  had  careful  study. 

Types  of  lessons. — Several  clearly  recognized  types 
of  lessons  are  commonly  employed  by  teachers  in  both 
school  and  church-school  classes.  No  one  of  these 
lesson  types  can  be  said  to  be  best  in  the  sense  that 
it  should  be  used  to  the  exclusion  of  the  others.  All 
are  required.  Several  may  even  be  employed  in  the 
same  recitation  period.  The  teacher  should,  however, 
know  which  type  he  is  emplo)dng  at  any  given  stage 
of  his  instruction,  and  why  he  is  using  this  type  in 
preference  to  another  type  of  teaching.  The  following 
are  the  chief  lesson  types  that  will  be  found  serviceable 
in  most  church  school  classes: 

I.  The  informational  lesson;  in  which  the  immediate 
aim  is  to  supply  the  mind  with  new  knowledge  or  facts 
needed  as  a  part  of  the  equipment  of  thought  and 
imderstanding. 

183 


i84  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

2.  The  developmental  (or  inductive)  lesson;  in  which 
the  aim  is  to  lead  the  child  through  his  own  investiga- 
tion and  thinking  to  use  the  information  already  in  his 
possession  as  a  basis  for  discovering  new  truth  or  meaning. 

3.  The  application  (or  deductive)  lesson;  in  which 
the  aim  is  to  make  application  of  some  general  truth 
or  lesson  already  known  to  particular  problems  or  cases. 

4.  The  drill  lesson;  in  which  the  aim  is  to  give  readi- 
ness and  skill  in  fundamental  facts  or  material  that 
should  be  so  well  known  as  to  be  practically  automatic 
in  thought  or  memory. 

5.  The  appreciation  lesson;  in  which  the  aim  is  to 
create  a  response  of  warmth  and  interest  toward,  or 
appreciation  of,  a  person,  object,  situation,  or  the 
material  studied. 

6.  The  review  lesson;  in  which  the  aim  is  to  gather 
up,  relate,  and  fix  more  permanently  in  the  mind  the 
lessons  or  facts  that  have  been  studied. 

7.  The  assignment  lesson;  in  which  help  is  rendered 
and  interest  inspired  for  study  of  the  next  lesson. 

THE  INFORMATIONAL  LESSON 

The  child  at  the  beginning  is  devoid  of  all  knowl- 
edge of  and  information  about  the  many  objects,  activ- 
ities, and  relationships  that  fill  his  world.  He  must 
come  to  know  these.  His  mind  can  develop  no  faster 
than  it  has  the  materials  for  thoughts,  memories,  ideas, 
and  whatever  else  is  to  occupy  his  stream  of  thought. 
He  must  therefore  be  supplied  with  information.  He 
must  be  given  a  fund  of  impressions,  of  facts,  of  knowl- 
edge to  use  in  his  thinking,  feeling,  and  understanding. 

To  undertake  to  teach  the  child  the  deeper  meanings 
and  relationships  of  God  to  our  hves  without  this  neces- 
sary background  of  information  is  to  confuse  him  and 


TYPES  OF  TEACHING  x8s 

to  fail  ourselves  as  teachers.  For  example,  a  certain 
primary  lesson  leaflet  tells  the  children  that  the  Egyp- 
tians made  slaves  out  of  the  Israelites  and  that  God 
led  the  Israeh'tes  out  of  this  slavery.  But  there  had 
previously  been  no  adequate  preparation  of  the  learn- 
ers' minds  to  understand  who  the  Israelites  or  the 
Egyptians  were,  nor  what  slavery  is.  The  children 
lacked  all  basis  of  information  to  understand  the  situa- 
tion described,  and  it  could  by  no  possibility  possess 
meaning  for  them. 

The  use  of  the  information  lesson. — It  is  not 
meant,  of  course,  that  when  the  chief  purpose  of  a 
lesson  is  to  give  information  no  applications  should  be 
made  or  no  interpretations  given  of  the  matter  pre- 
sented. Yet  the  fact  is  that  often  the  chief  emphasis 
must  be  placed  on  information,  and  that  for  the  moment 
other  aims  are  secondary.  To  illustrate:  When  young 
children  are  first  told  the  story  of  God  creating  the 
world  the  main  purpose  of  the  lesson  is  just  to  give  them 
the  story,  and  not  to  attempt  instruction  as  to  the  power 
and  wonder  of  creative  wisdom,  nor  even  at  this  time 
to  stress  the  seventh  day  as  a  day  of  rest.  When  the 
story  of  Moses  bringing  his  people  out  of  Egypt  is  told 
young  children,  the  providence  of  God  will  be  made 
evident,  but  the  facts  of  the  story  itself  and  its  enjoy- 
ment just  as  a  story  should  not  in  early  childhood  be 
overshadowed  by  attempting  to  force  the  moral  and 
religious  applications  too  closely. 

It  even  happens  that  the  indirect  lesson,  in  which 
the  child  is  left  to  see  for  himself  the  application  and 
meaning,  is  often  the  most  effective  to  teaching.  The 
same  principle  holds  when,  later  in  the  course,  the 
youth  is  first  studying  in  its  entirety  the  life  of  Jesus. 
The  main  thing  is  to  get  a  sympathetic,  reverent,  con- 


i86  HCW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

nected  view  of  Jesus's  life  as  a  whole.  There  will,  of 
course,  be  a  thousand  lessons  to  be  learned  and  appli- 
cations to  be  made  from  his  teachings,  but  these  should 
rest  on  a  fund  of  accurate  information  about  Jesus  him* 
self  and  wha,,  he  taught. 

Danger  of  neglecting  information. — It  should  be 
clear,  then,  that  in  advocating  the  informational  lesson 
there  is  no  thought  of  asking  that  we  should  teach  our 
children  mere  facts,  or  fill  their  heads  with  mere  in- 
formation. The  intention  is,  rather,  to  stress  the 
important  truth  often  seemingly  forgotten,  that  to  be 
intelligent  in  one's  religion  there  are  certain  fundamental 
things  which  must  he  known;  that  to  be  a  worthy  Chris- 
tian there  are  certain  facts,  stories,  personages,  and 
events  with  a  knowledge  of  which  the  mind  must  be 
well  furnished.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the^ 
common  run  of  teaching  in  our  church  schools  has 
failed  to  give  our  children  a  sufficient  basis  of  informa- 
tion upon  which  to  build  their  religious  experience. 

Informational  instruction  may  be  combined  with 
other  types  of  lessons,  or  may  be  given  as  separate 
lessons  which  stress  almost  entirely  the  informational 
aspect  of  the  material.  In  the  younger  classes  the 
information  will  come  to  the  children  chiefly  in  the 
form  of  stories,  and  the  accounts  of  lives  of  great  men 
and  women.  Later  in  the  course,  Bible  narrative, 
history,  and  biography  will  supply  the  chief  sources 
of  informational  material. 

THE  DEVELOPMENTAL  LESSON 

It  is  a  safe  principle  in  teaching  not  to  give  ready- 
made  to  children  a  fact  or  conclusion  which  they  can 
easily  be  led  by  questions  and  suggestions  to  discover 
for  themselves.    Truths  which  one  has  found  out  for 


TYPES  OF  TEACHING  187 

himself  always  mean  more  than  matter  that  is  dog- 
matically forced  upon  him.  The  pupil  who  has  watched 
the  bees  sucking  honey  from  clover  blossoms  and  then 
going  with  pollen-laden  feet  to  another  blossom,  or 
one  who  has  observed  the  drifting  pollen  from  orchard 
or  corn  field,  is  better  able  to  understand  the  fertiliza- 
tion of  plants  than  he  would  be  from  any  mere  descrip- 
tion of  the  process. 

On  the  same  principle,  the  child  will  get  a  deeper 
and  more  lasting  impression  of  the  effects  of  disobedience 
if  led  to  see  the  effect  of  the  disobedience  of  Adam 
and  Eve  in  the  shame  and  sorrow  and  feeling  of  guilt 
that  came  to  them,  than  he  will  through  Hstening  to 
ever  so  many  impressive  assertions  on  the  sin  of  dis- 
obedience. If  the  concrete  lesson  is  carried  over  to 
his  own  personal  experience  and  his  observation  of  the 
results  of  disobedience,  and  the  unhappiness  it  has 
brought,  the  effect  is  all  the  greater. 

Purpose  of  the  inductive  lesson. — The  developmen- 
tal, or  inductive,  lesson,  therefore,  seeks  to  lead  the 
child  to  observe f  discover,  think,  find  out  for  himself. 
It  begins  with  concrete  and  particular  instances,  but  it 
does  not  stop  with  them.  It  does  not  at  the  start  force 
upon  the  child  any  rules  or  general  conclusions,  but  it 
does  seek  to  arrive  at  conclusions  and  rules  in  the  end. 
For  example,  the  purpose  in  having  the  child  watch 
particular  bees  carrying  pollen  to  blossoms,  and  in 
having  him  observe  particular  pollen  drifting  in  the 
wind,  is  to  teach  in  the  end  the  general  truth  that 
certain  phnts  are  dependent  on  insects  and  others  on 
currents  of  air  for  their  pollenization. 

In  similar  fashion,  the  purpose  in  having  the  child 
understand  the  effects  of  disobedience  in  the  case  of 
Adam  and  Eve  and  in  any  particular  instance  in  his 


i88  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

own  experience  is  to  teach  the  general  conclusion  that 
disobedience  commonly  brings  sorrow  and  trouble.  The 
aim,  then,  is  to  arrive  at  a  universal  truth  of  wide 
application,  but  to  reach  it  through  appealing  to  the 
child's  own  knowledge,  experience,  and  observation.  In 
this  way  the  lesson  learned  will  have  more  vital  mean- 
ing and  it  will  be  more  readily  accepted  because  not' 
forced  upon  the  learner. 

Two  principles. — Two  important  principles  must  be 
kept  in  mind  in  teaching  an  inductive  lesson: 

1.  A  basis  or  starting  point  must  be  found  in  knowl' 
edge  or  experience  already  in  the  learner's  possession. 

2.  The  child  must  have  in  his  mind  the  question 
or  problem  which  demands  solution. 

The  first  of  these  principles  means  that  in  order  for 
the  child  to  observe,  think,  discover  for  himself,  he 
must  have  a  sufficient  basis  of  information  from  which 
to  proceed.  The  inductive  lesson,  therefore,  rests  upon 
and  starts  from  the  informational  lesson.  To  illustrate, 
in  order  to  understand  and  be  interested  in  the  work 
of  the  bees  as  pollen-bearers,  the  child  must  first  know 
the  fact  that  the  blossoming  and  fruiting  of  the  common 
plants  depend  on  pollen.  The  ear  of  corn  which  did 
not  properly  fill  with  grains  because  something  hap- 
pened to  prevent  pollen  grains  from  reaching  the  tips 
of  the  silks  at  the  right  time,  or  the  apple  tree  barren 
because  it  failed  from  some  adverse  cause  to  receive 
a  supply  of  pollen  for  its  blossoms  may  properly  be 
the  starting  point.  The  problem  or  question  then  arising 
is  how  pollen  grains  are  carried.  With  this  basis  of 
fact  and  of  question,  the  child  is  ready  to  begin  the 
interesting  task  of  observation  and  discovery  under 
the  direction  of  the  teacher;  he  is  then  ready  for 
the   inductive  lesson,  in  which  he  will  discover  ne^w 


TYPES  OF  TEACHING  189 

knowledge  by  using  the  information  already  in  his 
mind. 

Conducting  the  inductive  lesson. — In  conducting 
the  inductive  lesson  the  teacher  must  from  the  begin- 
ning have  a  very  clear  idea  of  the  goal  or  conclusion 
to  be  reached  by  the  learners.  Suppose  the  purpose 
is  to  impress  on  the  children  the  fact  of  Jesus^s  love 
and  care  for  children.  The  lesson  might  start  with 
questions  and  illustrations  dealing  with  the  father's 
and  mother's  care  and  love  for  each  child  in  the  home, 
and  the  way  these  are  shown. 

Following  this  would  come  the  story  of  Jesus  rebuking 
his  disciples  for  trying  to  send  the  children  away,  and 
his  own  kindness  to  the  children.  Then  such  questions 
as  these:  How  did  the  disciples  feel  about  having  the 
children  around  Jesus?  Why  did  they  tell  the  children 
to  keep  away?  Perhaps  they  were  afraid  the  children 
would  annoy  or  trouble  Jesus.  Have  you  ever  known 
anyone  who  did  not  seem  to  like  to  have  children  around 
him?  Does  your  mother  like  to  have  you  come  and 
be  beside  her?  What  did  Jesus  say  about  letting  the 
children  come  to  him?  Why  do  you  think  Jesus  liked 
to  have  the  children  around  him?  How  did  Jesus 
show  his  love  for  children?  Why  do  you  think  the 
children  Hked  to  be  with  Jesus?  Do  you  think  that 
Jesus  loves  children  as  much  to-day  as  when  he  was  upon 
earth?  Do  you  think  he  wants  children  to  be  good  and 
happy  now  as  he  did  then?  In  what  ways  does  Jesus 
show  his  love  and  kindness  to  children?  The  impression 
or  conclusion  to  grow  out  of  these  questions  and  the 
story  is  that  Jesus  loved  and  cared  for  children  when  he 
was  upon  earthy  and  that  he  loves  and  cares  for  them 
now  just  as  he  did  then.  This  will  be  the  goal  in  the 
teacher's  mind  from  the  beginning  of  the  lesson. 


igo  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

THE  DEDUCTIVE,  OR  APPLICATION,  LESSON 

Not  all  teaching  can  be  of  the  inductive,  or  discovery^ 
t)T)e.  It  is  necessary  now  and  then  to  start  with  gen- 
eral truths,  rules,  or  principles  and  apply  them  to 
concrete  individual  cases.  Rules  and  maxims  once 
understood  are  often  serviceable  in  working  out  new 
problems.  The  conclusions  reached  from  a  study  of 
one  set  of  circumstances  can  frequently  be  used  in 
meeting  similar  situations  another  time. 

For  example,  the  child  learns  by  a  study  of  par- 
ticular instances  the  results  of  disobedience,  and  finally 
arrives  at  the  great  general  truth  that  disobedience  to 
the  laws  of  nature  or  of  God  is  followed  by  punishment 
and  suffering.  This  fact  becomes  to  him  a  rule,  a  prin- 
ciple, a  maxim,  which  has  universal  appKcation.  Once 
this  is  understood  and  accepted,  the  child  is  armed 
with  a  weapon  against  disobedience.  With  this  equip- 
ment he  can  say  when  he  confronts  temptation:  This 
means  disobedience  to  God's  law  and  the  laws  of  nature; 
but  disobedience  to  the  laws  of  God  and  of  nature  brings 
punishment  and  suffering;  therefore  if  I  do  this  thing, 
I  shall  be  punished,  and  shall  suffer — /  will  refrain 
from  doing  it. 

Making  the  application. — A  large  part  of  our  in- 
struction in  religion  must  be  of  the  deductive  kind. 
It  is  impossible,  even  if  it  were  desirable,  to  rediscover 
and  develop  inductively  out  of  observation  and  expe- 
rience all  the  great  moral  and  religious  laws  which 
should  govern  the  life.  Many  of  these  come  to  us 
ready-made,  the  result  of  the  aggregate  experience  of 
generations  of  rehgious  Hving,  or  the  product  of  God's 
revelation  to  men.  Consider,  for  example,  such  great 
generalizations  as:  "Where  your  treasure  is,  there  will 
your  heart  be  also;"  "Blessed  are  the  merciful,  for 


TYPES  OF  TEACHING  191 

they  shall  obtain  mercy";  "No  man  can  serve  two 
masters";  ''With  what  measure  ye  mete  it  shall  be  meas- 
ured unto  you";  "The  wages  of  sin  is  death." 

These  are  illustrations  of  the  concentrated  wisdom 
of  the  finest  hearts  and  minds  the  world  has  seen,  words 
spoken  by  Inspiration,  but  true  to  the  experience  of 
every  person.  It  is  our  part  as  teachers  to  make  the 
great  fundamental  moral  and  rehgious  laws  which 
underlie  our  lives  Hving  truths  to  our  pupils.  To  do 
this  we  must  not  teach  such  truths  as  mere  abstrac- 
tions, but  show  them  at  work  in  the  Hves  of  men  and 
women  and  of  boys  and  girls.  We  must  find  illustra- 
tions, we  must  make  applications,  and  discover  examples 
of  proof  and  verification. 

Teaching  that  fails  from  lack  of  applying  truth. 
— The  object,  then,  of  the  inductive  lesson  is  to  lead 
the  learner  to  discover  truth;  the  object  of  the  dedtcctive 
lesson  is  to  lead  him  to  apply  truth.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  much  of  our  teaching  of  reHgion  suffers 
from  failure  to  make  immediate  and  vital  apphcation 
of  the  truths  we  teach.  When  we  teach  the  youth  that 
no  man  can  serve  two  masters,  we  should  not  be  satis- 
fied until  we  have  shown  him  the  proof  of  this  truth 
at  work  in  the  everyday  experience  of  men.  When 
we  teach  him  that  the  wages  of  sin  is  death,  we  must 
not  stop  with  the  mere  statement  of  fact,  but  lead  him 
to  recognize  the  effects  of  sin's  work  in  broken  hves 
and  ruined  careers. 

Nor  should  we  confine  our  proofs  and  illustrations 
to  examples  taken  from  the  Bible,  valuable  as  these 
are.  Too  many,  perhaps  half  unconsciously  to  them- 
selves, carry  the  impression  that  religion  belongs  rather 
more  to  Bible  times  and  peoples  than  to  ourselves. 
Too  many  assent  to  the  general  truth  of  religion  and 


192  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

the  demands  it  puts  on  our  lives,  but  fail  to  make  a 
sufficiently  immediate  and  definite  application  of  its 
requirements  to  their  own  round  of  daily  living.  Too 
many  think  of  the  divine  law  as  revealed  in  the  Scriptures 
as  having  a  historical  significance  rather  than  a  present 
application.  One  of  the  tasks  of  deductive  teaching 
is  to  cure  this  fatal  weakness  in  the  study  of  religion. 

THE  DRILL  LESSON 

Teaching  religion  does  not  require  as  large  a  pro- 
portion of  drill  as  many  other  subjects.  This  is  because 
the  purpose  of  drill  is  to  make  certain  matter  automatic 
in  the  mind,  or  to  train  definite  acts  to  a  high  degree 
of  skill.  For  example,  the  child  must  come  to  know 
his  multiplication  table  readily,  "without  thinking"; 
he  must  come  to  be  able  to  write  or  spell  or  count  or 
manipulate  the  keys  of  a  typewriter  without  directing 
his  attention  to  the  acts  required.  Wherever  auto- 
matic action  or  ready  skill  is  required,  there  drill  is 
demanded.  Drill  provides  for  the  repetition  of  the 
mental  or  physical  act  until  habit  has  made  it  second 
nature  and  it  goes  on  practically  doing  itself.  There  is 
no  way  to  get  a  high  degree  of  skill  without  drill,  for  the 
simple  reason  that  the  brain  requires  a  certain  amount 
of  repeated  action  before  it  can  carry  out  the  necessary 
operations  without  error  and  without  the  application 
of  conscious  thought. 

Drill  lessons  in  the  church  school. — ^While  the 
church-school  teacher  will  not  require  so  much  use  of 
drill  as  the  day-school  teacher,  it  is  highly  essential  that 
drill  shall  not  be  omitted  at  points  where  it  is  needed. 
There  are  some  things  which  the  child  should  learn 
very  thoroughly  and  completely  in  his  study  of  religion. 
He  should  know  a  few  prayers  by  heart,  so  that  their 


TYPES  OF  TEACHING  193 

words  come  to  him  naturally  and  easily  when  he  desires 
to  use  them.  He  should  know  the  words  and  music 
of  certain  songs  and  hymns  suited  to  his  age.  He 
should  learn  certain  Bible  passages  of  rare  beauty, 
and  other  sentiments,  verses,  and  poems  found  out- 
side the  Bible.  He  should  come,  as  a  matter  of  con- 
venience and  skill,  to  know  the  names  and  order  of  the 
books  of  the  Bible.  In  some  churches  he  is  required 
to  know  the  catechism.  Whatever  of  such  material 
is  to  be  mastered  fully  and  completely  must  receive 
careful  drill. 

Principles  for  conducting  the  drill. — The  first  step 
in  a  successful  drill  lesson  is  to  supply  a  motive  for  the 
drill.  This  is  necessary  in  order  to  secure  alertness  and 
effort.  Mere  repetition  is  not  drill.  Monotonous  going 
over  the  words  of  a  poem  or  the  list  of  books  of  the 
Bible  with  wandering  or  slack  attention  will  fail  of 
results.  The  learner  must  be  keyed  up,  and  give  him- 
self whole-heartedly  to  the  work.  Let  the  child  come 
to  feel  a  real  need  of  mastery,  and  one  great  motive  is 
supplied.  Let  him  desire  the  words  of  the  song  because 
he  is  to  sing  in  the  chorus,  or  desire  the  words  of 
the  poem  because  he  is  to  take  part  in  a  pageant, 
and  there  will  be  little  trouble  about  willingness  to 
drill. 

Again,  the  competitive  impulse  can  often  be  used  to 
motivate  drill.  The  child  is  ambitious  to  stand  at  the 
head  of  his  class,  or  to  beat  his  own  record  of  perform- 
ance, or  to  win  the  appreciation  or  praise  of  teacher 
or  parents,  or  he  has  a  pride  in  personal  achievement 
— these  are  all  worthy  motives,  and  can  be  made  of 
great  service  in  conducting  classroom  or  individual 
drills.  The  posting  of  a  piece  of  good  work  done  by 
a  pupil,  or  calling  attention  to  the  good  performance 


194  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

of  a  member  of  the  class  can  often  be  made  an  incentive 
to  the  whole  number. 

Drill,  in  order  to  be  effective,  must  not  stop  short 
of  thoi'ough  mastery.  The  matter  which  is  barely- 
learned,  or  the  verse  which  can  be  but  doubtfully  re- 
peated is  sure  to  escape  if  not  fixed  by  further  drill. 
It  is  probable,  as  suggested  in  an  earlier  chapter,  that 
we  attempt  to  have  our  children  memorize  too  much 
Bible  material  which  is  beyond  their  understanding 
and  too  difficult  for  them.  On  the  other  hand,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  we  fail  to  teach  them  sufficiently 
well  the  smaller  amount  of  beautiful  sentiments,  verses, 
poems,  songs,  and  prayers  which  should  be  a  part  of 
the  mental  and  spiritual  possession  of  every  child. 
Our  weekly  lessons  provide  for  the  memorizing  of  Bible 
matter  week  by  week,  yet  surprisingly  few  children 
can  repeat  any  sensible  amount  of  such  material.  Better 
results  would  follow  if  we  should  require  less  material, 
select  it  more  wisely,  and  then  drill  upon  it  until  it  is 
firmly  fixed  in  the  mind  as  a  permanent  and  familiar 
possession. 

THE  APPRECIATION  LESSON 

It  is  quite  as  essential  that  the  child  shall  come  to 
enjoy  and  admire  right  things  as  that  he  shall  know 
right  things.  To  cultivate  appreciation  for  the  beau- 
tiful, the  good,  the  fine,  and  the  true  is  one  of  the  great 
aims  of  our  teaching.  One  who  is  able  to  analyze  a 
flower  and  technically  describe  its  botanical  parts,  but 
who  fails  to  respond  to  its  beauty  has  still  much  to 
learn  about  flowers.  One  who  learns  the  facts  about 
the  Hfe  of  Paul,  Elijah,  or  Jesus  but  who  does  not  feel 
and  admire  the  strength,  gentleness,  and  goodness  of 
their  characters  has  missed  one  of  the  essential  points 


TYPES  OF  TEACHING  195 

in  his  study.  One  who  masters  the  details  about  a 
poem  or  a  picture  but  who  misses  the  thrill  of  enjoy- 
ment and  appreciation  which  it  holds  for  him  has  gath- 
ered but  the  husks  and  misses  the  right  kernel  of  meaning. 

How  to  teach  appreciation. — Appreciation  can  never 
be  taught  directly.  The  best  we  can  do  is  to  bring  to 
the  child  the  thing  of  beauty  or  goodness  which  we 
desire  him  to  enjoy  and  admire,  making  sure  that  he 
comprehends  its  meaning  as  fully  as  may  be,  and  then 
leave  it  to  exert  its  own  appeal.  We  may  by  ill-advised 
comment  or  insistence  even  hinder  appreciation.  The 
teacher  who  constantly  asks  the  children,  ^'Do  you 
not  think  the  poem  is  beautiful?"  or,  "Is  not  this  a 
lovely  song?"  not  only  fails  to  help  toward  appreciation, 
but  is  in  danger  of  creating  a  false  attitude  in  the  child 
by  causing  him  to  express  admiration  where  none  is  felt. 

There  is  also  grave  doubt  whether  it  is  not  a  mistake 
to  urge  too  much  on  the  child  that  he  ''ought"  to  love 
Gk)d,  or  that  it  is  his  "duty"  to  love  the  church.  The 
fact  is  that  love,  admiration  and  appreciation  cannot 
be  compelled  by  any  act  of  the  will  or  sense  of  duty. 
They  must  arise  spontaneously  from  a  realization  of 
some  lovable  or  beautiful  quaUty  which  exerts  an 
appeal  that  will  not  be  denied. 

The  part  of  the  teacher  at  this  point,  therefore,  is 
to  act  as  interpreter,  to  help  the  learner  to  grasp  the 
meaning  of  the  poem,  the  picture,  the  song,  or  the 
character  he  is  studying.  The  admirable  qualities  are 
to  be  brought  out,  the  beautiful  aspects  set  forth,  and 
the  lovable  traits  placed  in  high  light.  The  teacher 
may  even  express  his  own  admiration  and  appreciation, 
though  without  sentimentality  or  effusiveness.  Nor  is 
it  likely  that  a  teacher  will  be  able  to  excite  admiration 
in  his  class  for  any  object  of  study  which  he  does  not 


196  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

himself  admire.  If  his  own  soul  does  not  rise  to  the 
beauty  of  the  twenty-third  psalm  or  to  the  inimitable 
grandeur  and  strength  of  the  Christ-life,  he  is  hardly 
the  one  to  hold  these  subjects  of  study  before  children. 

THE  REVIEW  LESSON 

Reviews  and  tests  fulfill  a  double  purpose  for  the 
learner:  they  help  to  organize  and  make  more  usable 
the  matter  that  has  been  learned,  and  they  reveal 
success  or  failure  in  mastery.  They  also  serve  the 
teacher  as  a  measure  of  his  success  in  teaching.  The 
review  lesson  should  not  be,  as  it  often  is,  a  mere  rep- 
etition of  as  many  facts  from  previous  lessons  as  time 
will  permit  to  be  covered.  It  should  present  a  new 
mew  of  the  subject.  It  should  deal  with  the  great 
essential  points,  and  so  relate  and  organize  them  that 
the  threefold  aim  of  fruitful  knowledge,  right  attitudes, 
and  practical  applications  shall  be  stressed  and  made 
secure. 

Guiding  principles. — If  the  section  of  matter  under 
review  deals  with  a  series  of  events,  such  as  the  story 
of  the  migration  of  the  Israelites  from  Egypt  or  the 
account  of  the  ministry  of  Jesus,  then  the  review  lesson 
must  pick  out  and  emphasize  those  incidents  and  appli- 
cations which  should  become  a  part  of  the  permanent 
possession  of  the  child's  mind  from  the  study  of  this 
material.  These  related  points  should  be  so  linked 
together  and  so  reimpressed  that  they  will  form  a 
continuous  view  of  the  period  or  topic  studied.  There 
is  no  place  for  the  incidental  nor  for  minute  and  un- 
related detail  in  the  review. 

The  teacher  will  need  most  careful  preparation  and 
planning  to  conduct  a  review.  He  must  have  the  entire 
field  to  be  reviewed  fully  mastered  and  in  his  own  mind 


TYPES  OF  TEACHING  197 

as  a  unit,  else  he  cannot  lead  the  child  back  over  it 
successfully.  He  must  work  out  a  lesson  plan  which  will 
secure  interest  and  response  on  the  part  of  his  pupils. 
Many  review  lessons  drag,  and  are  but  endured  by 
the  class.  This  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that 
the  review  recitation  often  fails  to  do  more  than  repeat 
old  material.  It  may  also  come  from  the  fact  that 
the  children  are  asked  details  which  they  have  for- 
gotten or  never  knew,  so  that  they  are  unable  to  take 
their  part.  It  may  in  some  cases  arise  from  the  fact 
that  the  teacher  is  himself  not  ready  for  the  review, 
and  does  not  like  review  days.  Whatever  may  be  the 
cause,  the  review  that  fails  to  catch  interest  or  call 
forth  enthusiasm  has  in  so  far  failed  of  its  purpose. 
The  minds  of  teacher  and  pupils  should  be  at  their  best 
and  concentration  at  its  keenest  for  the  review  lesson. 

ASSIGmCENT  OF  LESSON 

No  smaU  part  of  the  success  of  instruction  depends 
on  faithfulness  and  skill  in  assigning  lessons.  Too  often 
this  is  left  for  the  very  last  moment  of  the  class  hour, 
when  there  is  no  time  left  for  proper  assignment  and 
the  teacher  can  give  only  the  most  hurried  and  incom- 
plete directions.  Or,  it  may  be  that  the  only  direction 
that  is  given  is  the  exhortation  to  ^'be  sure  to  prepare 
the  lesson  for  next  week."  But  this  will  not  suffice. 
We  must  not  forget  that  children,  especially  the  younger 
children,  may  not  know  just  how  to  go  to  work  upon 
the  lesson,  nor  what  to  do  in  getting  it.  It  is  hard  for 
any  young  child  to  gather  thought  from  the  printed 
page,  even  after  he  has  attained  fair  skill  in  reading; 
and  it  is  doubly  hard  if  the  matter  is  difficult  or  un- 
familiar, as  is  much  of  the  material  found  in  the  church- 
school  lessons. 


198  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

How  to  make  the  assignment. — In  order  to  assign 
the  lesson  properly  the  teacher  must,  of  course,  be 
perfectly  familiar  with  the  coming  lesson.  This  means 
that  he  must  keep  a  week  ahead  in  his  preparation, 
which  is  in  the  end  no  loss,  but  even  a  gain.  The  teacher 
must  also  have  the  plan  of  the  lesson  sufficiently  in 
mind  that  he  knows  just  what  points  are  to  be  stressed, 
what  will  present  the  most  difficulty  to  the  class,  what 
will  most  appeal  to  their  interest,  and  what  will  need 
to  be  especially  assigned  for  study  or  investigation. 
In  lessons  which  children  are  to  prepare  at  home  it  is 
usually  well  to  go  over  the  material  briefly  with  the 
class  in  making  the  assignment,  giving  hints  for  study, 
calling  attention  to  interesting  points,  and  stating 
very  definitely  just  what  the  class  is  expected  to  do. 

If  there  is  to  be  written  work,  this  should  be  fully 
understood:  if  handwork  or  drawing  or  coloring,  it 
should  be  made  perfectly  clear  what  is  required;  if 
memory  material  is  asked  for,  it  should  be  gone  over, 
the  meaning  made  clear  to  every  child,  and  directions 
given  as  to  how  best  to  commit  the  matter.  If  out- 
side references  are  assigned  in  books  or  magazines,  the 
reference  should  be  written  down  in  the  notebook  or 
given  the  child  on  a  sHp  of  paper  so  that  no  mistake 
may  be  made.  The  purpose  and  requirement  in  all 
these  matters  is  to  be  as  definite  and  clear  as  would 
be  required  in  any  business  concern,  leaving  no  chance 
for  failure  or  mistake  because  of  lack  of  understanding. 
Less  than  this  is  an  evidence  of  carelessness  or  in- 
competence in  the  teacher. 

I.  In  order  better  to  imderstand  and  to  review  the 
several  types  of  lessons  listed  in  the  chapter  it  will  be  well 
for  you  to  look  through  the  lessons  for  the  current  quarter 
or  year  and  determine  to  which  type  each  separate  lesson 


TYPES  OF  TEACHING  199 

belongs.   How  many  do  you  find  of  each  type?   Are  there 
many  lessons  that  will  involve  several  of  the  types  ? 

2.  Which  type  of  these  lessons  do  you  best  like  to 
teach?  Is  there  any  particular  type  that  you  have  been 
neglecting?  Any  in  which  you  feel  that  you  are  not  very 
successful?  What  will  you  need  to  do  to  increase  your 
efiBciency  on  this  type  of  lesson  ? 

3 .  Do  you  feel  that  you  are  reasonably  skillful  in  lead- 
ing children  to  discover  truths  for  themselves  through  the 
use  of  questions?  If  you  find  when  questioning  that  the 
children  lack  the  information  necessary  to  arriving  at  the 
truth  desired,  what  must  you  then  do?  What  do  you 
consider  your  greatest  weakness  in  conducting  the  develop- 
mental lesson? 

4.  Does  yoMT  class  like  review  lessons?  If  not,  can  you 
discover  the  reason?  Have  your  reviews  been  largely 
repetitions  of  matter  already  covered,  or  have  they  used 
such  devices  as  to  bring  the  matter  up  in  new  guise? 
Do  you  believe  that  review  day  can  be  made  the  most 
interesting  of  the  lessons?  Some  teachers  say  it  can, 
How  will  you  go  at  it  to  make  it  so? 

5.  What  application,  or  deductive,  lesson  have  you 
taught  your  class  recently?  Was  it  a  success?  Have  you 
ever  discovered  a  tendency  in  yoiu-  teaching  to  have  your 
class  commit  to  memory  some  great  truth,  but  fail  in  its 
application  to  real  problems  in  their  own  lives?  What 
applications  of  religious  truths  have  you  recently  made 
successfully  in  your  class? 

6.  What  is  your  method  or  plan  of  assigning  lessons? 
Do  you  think  that  any  part  of  the  children's  failure  to  pre- 
pare their  lessons  may  be  due  to  imperfect  assignments? 
Will  you  make  the  assignment  of  the  lessons  that  lie  ahead 
one  of  your  chief  problems? 

FOR  FURTHER  READING 

Earhart,  Types  of  Teaching. 


200  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

Strayer,  A  Brief  Course  in  the  Teaching  Process. 

Hayward,  The  Lesson  in  Appreciation. 

Knight,  Some  Principles  of  Teaching  as  Applied  to  the 

Sunday  School. 
Maxwell,  The  Observation  of  Teaching. 


J 
CHAPTER  Xn 

METHODS  USED  IN  THE  RECITATION 

The  particular  mode  of  procedure  used  in  recitation 
will  depend  on  the  nature  of  the  material,  the  age  of  the 
pupils,  and  the  aim  of  the  lesson.  For  the  church- 
school  recitation  period  four  different  methods  are 
chiefly  used.    These  are: 

1.  The  topical  method,  in  which  the  teacher  suggests 
a  topic  of  the  lesson  or  asks  a  question  and  requires 
the  pupil  to  go  on  in  his  own  way  and  tell  what  he  can 
about  the  point  under  discussion. 

2.  The  lecture  method,  in  which  the  teacher  himself 
discusses  the  topic  of  the  lesson,  presenting  the  facts, 
offering  explanations  or  making  applications  as  he  judges 
the  case  may  require. 

3.  The  question-and-answer,  or  discussion,  method, 
in  which  the  teacher  leads  in  a  half-formal  conversation, 
asking  questions  and  receiving  answers  either  to  test 
the  pupil's  preparation  or  to  develop  the  facts  and 
meanings  of  the  lesson. 

4.  The  story  method,  in  which  the  teacher  uses  a 
story,  told  either  in  the  words  of  the  writer  or  in  his 
own  words,  to  convey  the  lesson.  The  story  method 
differs  from  the  lecture  method  in  that  the  story  re- 
coimts  some  real  or  fancied  situation  or  occurrence 
to  convey  the  lesson,  while  the  lecture  depends  more 
on  explanation  and  analysis. 

It  may  sometimes  happen  that  an  entire  recitation 
will  employ  but  one  of  these  methods,  the  whole  time 
being  given  either  to  reciting  upon  topics,  to  a  lecture 

201 


202  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

or  discussion  by  the  teacher,  or  to  a  series  of  questions 
and  answers.  More  commonly,  however,  the  three 
methods  are  best  when  combined  to  supplement  each 
other  or  to  give  variety  to  the  instruction. 

THE  TOPICAL  METHOD 

There  is  really  no  absolute  line  of  demarkation  be- 
tween the  topical  and  the  question-and-answer  method. 
The  chief  difference  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  question 
deals  with  some  one  specific  fact  or  point,  while  the 
topic  requires  the  pupil  to  decide  on  what  facts  or  points 
should  come  into  the  discussion,  and  so  make  his  own 
plan  for  the  discussion. 

The  plan  of  the  topical  method. — It  is  evident 
that  the  topical  method  of  reciting  will  require  more 
independence  of  thought  than  the  question-and-answer 
method.  To  ask  the  child  to  "give  the  account  of 
Noah's  building  of  the  Ark,"  or  to  "tell  about  Joseph 
being  sold  by  his  brothers"  is  to  demand  more  of  him 
than  to  answer  a  series  of  questions  on  these  events. 
The  topical  method  will,  therefore,  find  its  greatest 
usefulness  in  the  higher  grades  rather  than  with  the 
younger  children.  This  does  not  mean,  however,  that 
children  in  the  earlier  grades  are  to  be  given  no  oppor- 
tunity to  formulate  their  thought  for  themselves  and 
to  express  their  thought  without  the  help  of  direct 
questions. 

This  power,  like  all  others,  is  developed  through  its 
use,  and  is  not  acquired  at  a  certain  age  without  prac- 
tice. Even  young  children  may  be  encouraged  to  re- 
tell stories  in  their  own  words,  or  to  tell  what  they 
think  about  any  problem  that  interests  them;  and  all 
such  exercises  are  the  best  of  preliminary  training  in 
the  use  of  the  topical  method. 


METHODS  IN  THE  RECITATION        203 

Narrative  topics. — ^The  easiest  form  of  the  topical 
method  is  that  dealing  with  narration.  Children  are 
much  more  adept  at  telling  what  happened — recounting 
a  series  of  events  in  a  game,  a  trip,  an  incident,  or  an 
accident — than  in  giving  a  description  of  persons,  places, 
or  objects.  The  Bible  narratives  will  therefore  afford 
good  starting  places  for  topical  recitations  in  the  younger 
grades.  Older  pupils  may  be  called  upon  to  discuss 
problems  of  conduct,  or  to  make  applications  of  lessons 
to  concrete  conditions,  or  carry  on  any  other  form  of 
analysis  that  calls  for  individual  thought  and  ability 
in  expression. 

Report  topics. — ^A  modified  form  of  the  topical 
method  is  sometimes  ealled  the  report  method,  or  the 
research  method.  In  this  use  of  the  topical  method 
some  special  and  definite  topic  or  problem  is  assigned 
a  pupil  to  be  prepared  by  special  study,  and  reported 
upon  before  the  class.  This  plan,  at  least  above  the 
elementary  grades,  has  great  possibilities  if  wisely  used. 
The  topics,  if  interesting,  and  if  adapted  to  the  children, 
will  usually  receive  careful  preparation.  Especially  is 
this  true  if  well-prepared  pupils  are  allowed  in  the 
recitation  to  make  a  brief  report  to  an  interested  audi- 
ence of  classmates. 

Care  must  be  taken  in  the  use  of  this  method  not 
to  permit  the  time  of  the  class  to  be  taken  with  imin- 
teresting  and  poorly  prepared  reports  by  pupils,  for 
this  will  kill  the  interest  of  the  class,  set  a  low  standard 
of  preparation  and  mastery,  and  render  the  method 
useless.  When  a  topic  of  special  study  is  assigned  to 
a  pupil,  care  must  be  taken  to  see  that  the  exact  ref- 
erences for  study  are  known  and  that  the  necessary 
material  is  available.  The  devoted  teacher  will  also 
try  to  find  time  and  opportunity  to  help  his  pupil  organ- 


204  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

ize  the  material  of  his  report  to  insure  its  interest  and 
value  to  the  class. 

Avoiding  a  danger. — ^A  danger  to  be  avoided  in  the 
use  of  the  topical  method  is  that  of  accepting  incom- 
plete and  unenlightening  discussions  from  pupils  who 
are  poorly  prepared.  To  say  to  a  child,  "Tell  what 
you  can  about  David  and  Goliath,"  and  then  to  pass 
on  to  something  else  after  a  poorly  given  account  of 
the  interesting  story  is  to  fail  in  the  best  use  of  the 
topical  method.  After  the  child  has  finished  his  recita- 
tion the  teacher  should  then  supplement  with  facts  or 
suggestions,  or  ask  questions  to  bring  out  further  in- 
formation, or  do  whatever  else  is  necessary  to  enrich 
and  make  more  vivid  the  impression  gained.  This 
must  all  be  done,  however,  without  making  an  earnest 
child  feel  that  his  effort  has  been  useless,  or  that  what 
he  has  given  was  unimportant. 

THE  LECTURE  METHOD 

The  lecture  method,  if  followed  continuously,  is  a 
poor  way  of  teaching.  Even  in  telling  stories  to  the 
younger  children,  the  skillful  teacher  leads  the  pupils 
to  tell  the  stories  back  to  her  and  the  class.  Mere 
listening  gets  to  be  dull  work,  and  the  teacher  who  does 
all  the  reciting  himself  must  expect  lack  of  interest 
and  inattention. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  many  teachers  talk  too 
much  themselves  compared  with  the  part  taken  by 
their  pupils.  It  is  much  easier  for  the  teacher  to  go 
over  the  lesson  himself,  bringing  out  its  incidents, 
explaining  its  meanings,  and  applying  its  lessons,  than 
to  lead  the  class,  by  means  of  well-directed  questions, 
to  accomplish  these  things  by  their  own  answers  and 
discussions.    Yet  it  is  a  common  experience,  especially 


METHODS  IN  THE  RECITATION         205 

with  chfldren,  that  we  like  best  any  program,  recita- 
tion, or  exercise,  in  wliich  we  ourselves  have  had  an 
active  part.  And  it  is  also  from  the  lesson  in  which 
we  have  really  participated  that  we  carry  away  the 
most  vivid  and  lasting  impressions. 

The  lecture  method  not  for  general  use. — Every 
teacher  should  therefore  consider,  when  making  his 
lesson  plan,  just  what  his  own  part  is  to  be  in  the  pre- 
sentation of  material.  Some  latitude  must  be  allowed, 
of  course,  for  circumstances  which  may  arise  in  the 
recitation  bringing  up  points  which  may  need  elabora- 
tion or  explanation.  But  he  should  know  in  a  general 
way  what  material  he  is  to  bring  in,  what  applications 
he  will  em.phasize,  and  what  illustrations  he  will  use. 
He  should  not  trust  to  the  inspiration  of  the  moment, 
nor  allow  himself  to  be  led  off  into  a  discussion  that 
monopolizes  all  the  time  and  deprives  the  class  of 
participation.  More  than  one  church-school  class  has 
failed  to  hold  the  interest,  if  not  the  attendance,  of  its 
members  because  the  teacher  mistook  his  function  and 
formed  the  habit  of  turning  expositor  or  preacher 
before  his  class.  The  overtalkative  teacher  should 
learn  to  curb  this  tendency,  or  else  give  way  to  one 
who  brings  less  of  himself  and  more  of  his  pupils  to 
bear  upon  the  lesson. 

This  does  not  mean  that  the  teacher  shall  never 
lecture  or  talk  to  his  class.  Indeed,  the  teacher  who 
does  not  have  a  message  now  and  then  for  his  pupils 
is  not  qualified  to  guide  their  spiritual  development. 
It  means,  rather,  that  lecturing  must  not  become  a 
habit,  and  that  on  the  whole  it  should  be  used  sparingly 
with  all  classes  of  children.  It  means  also  that  aU 
matter  presented  to  the  class  by  the  teacher  himseJI 
should  be  well  prepared;  that  it  should  be  carefully 


2o6  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

organized  and  planned,  so  that  its  meaning  will  be  clear 
and  its  lesson  plain,  and  so  that  time  will  not  be  wasted 
in  its  presentation.  It  will  be  a  safe  rule  for  the  teacher 
to  set  for  himself  not  to  come  before  his  class  with  a 
talk  that  is  not  as  well  prepared  as  he  expects  his  minister 
to  have  his  sermon.  And  why  not!  The  recitation 
hour  should  mean  at  least  as  much  to  the  church  class 
as  the  sermon  hour  means  to  the  congregation. 

THE  QUESTION-AND-ANSWER  METHOD 

Skill  in  questioning  lies  at  the  basis  of  most  good 
teaching  of  children.  Good  questioning  stimulates 
thought,  brings  out  new  meanings,  and  leads  the  mind 
to  right  conclusions.  Poor  questioning  leaves  the 
thought  unawakened,  fails  to  arouse  interest  and  atten- 
tion, and  results  in  poor  mastery  and  faulty  under- 
standing. To  the  uninitiated  it  appears  easy  to  ask 
questions  for  others  to  answer.  But  when  we  become 
teachers  and  undertake  to  use  the  question  as  an  instru- 
ment of  instruction  we  find  that  it  is  much  harder  to 
ask  questions  than  to  answer  them,  for  not  only  must 
the  questioner  know  the  subject  and  the  answer  to 
each  question  better  than  his  pupils,  but  he  must  be 
able  constantly  to  interpret  the  minds  of  his  pupils 
in  order  to  discover  their  understanding  of  the  problem 
and  to  know  what  questions  next  to  ask. 

Questions  slavishly  dependent  on  the  text. — 
Not  infrequently  one  finds  a  teacher  who  uses  ques- 
tioning solely  to  test  the  knowledge  of  the  pupils  on  the 
lesson  text.  Probably  the  worst  form  of  this  kind 
of  questioning  is  that  of  following  the  printed  ques- 
tions of  the  lesson  quarterly,  the  pupils  having  their 
lesson  sheets  open  before  them  and  looking  up  the 
answer  to  each  question  as  it  is  asked. 


METHODS  IN  THE  RECITATION        207 

The  following  questions  are  taken  from  a  widely 
used  junior  quarterly,  the  Bible  text  being  Luke  10* 
25-37:  "Who  wanted  to  try  Jesus?  What  did  he  ask? 
What  did  Jesus  say?  What  reply  was  made?  What 
questions  did  the  lawyer  ask?  How  did  Jesus  answer 
him?  What  is  such  a  story  called?  What  is  the  name 
of  this  parable?  Where  was  the  man  going?  Who 
met  him?  How  did  they  treat  him?  What  did  they 
take  from  him?  Where  did  they  leave  him?"  No  one 
of  these  questions  appeals  to  thought  or  imagination. 
All  are  questions  of  sheer  fact,  with  none  of  the  deeper 
and  more  interesting  meanings  brought.  All  of  them 
may  be  answered  correctly,  and  the  child  be  little  the 
wiser  religiously.  Such  a  method  of  teaching  cannot 
do  other  than  deaden  the  child's  interest  in  the  Bible, 
create  in  him  an  aversion  to  the  lesson  hour  of  the 
church  school,  and  fail  of  the  whole  purpose  of  religious 
education.  The  teacher  must  be  able  to  use  living  ques- 
tionSj  and  not  be  dependent  on  a  dead  list  of  faulty  qties- 
tions  embalmed  in  print. 

Questions  arising  spontaneously  from  the  topic. 
— One  who  does  not  know  his  lesson  well  enough  so 
that  he  can  ask  the  necessary  questions  practically 
without  reference  even  to  the  text,  let  alone  referring 
to  the  printed  questions,  or  asking  questions  in  the 
words  of  the  text,  is  not  yet  ready  to  teach  the  lesson. 
In  order  to  successful  teaching  there  must  be  a  constant 
interchange  of  response  between  teacher  and  class  at 
every  moment  throughout  the  recitation.  This  is  im- 
possible if  the  teacher  must  stop  to  read  the  text  of  the 
lesson,  or  take  her  eyes  and  attention  away  from  the 
class  to  look  up  the  question  which  is  to  come  next. 
All  such  breaks  of  thought  are  fatal  to  interest  and 
attention  on  the  part  of  the  class. 


2o8  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

As  suggested  in  an  earlier  chapter,  t-he  teacher  should 
have  prepared  a  list  of  pivotal  questions  as  a  part  of 
her  lesson  plan.  With  these  at  hand  there  should  be 
no  necessity  for  reference  to  the  printed  lesson  to  find 
questions  during  the  recitation  period.  Let  the  teacher 
who  is  accustomed  to  slavish  dependence  on  the  lesson 
text  for  his  questions  really  niaster  his  lesson,  and  then 
declare  his  independence  of  tread-mill  questioning;  he 
will  be  surprised  at  the  added  satisfaction  and  efficiency 
that  come  to  his  teaching. 

The  principle  of  unity. — Questions  that  really  teach 
must  follow  some  plan  of  unity  or  continuity.  Each 
succeeding  question  must  grow  out  of  the  preceding 
question  and  its  answer,  and  all  put  together  must 
lead  in  a  definite  direction  toward  a  clear  aim  or  goal 
which  the  teacher  has  in  mind.  One  of  the  serious 
faults  of  the  questions  quoted  above  from  the  lesson 
quarterly  is  that  they  lack  unity  and  purpose.  Each 
question  is  separate  from  all  the  others.  No  question 
leads  to  the  ones  which  follow,  nor  does  the  whole  list 
point  to  any  lesson  or  conclusion  at  the  end.  Such 
questioning  can  result  only  in  isolated  scraps  of  informa- 
tion. A  series  of  questions  lacking  imity  and  purpose 
resembles  a  broom  ending  in  many  straws,  instead  of 
being  like  a  bayonet  ending  in  a  point:  and  who  would 
not  prefer  a  bayonet  to  a  broom  as  a  weapon  of  offense! 

The  principle  of  clearness. — The  good  questioner 
makes  his  questions  clear  and  definite  so  that  they  can 
not  be  misunderstood.  That  this  is  not  always  ac- 
complished is  proved  by  the  fact  that  a  child  who  is 
unable  to  answer  a  question  when  it  is  put  in  one  form 
may  answer  it  perfectly  when  it  is  asked  in  different 
phrasing.  The  teacher  always  needs  to  make  certain 
that  the  question  is  fully  comprehended,  for  it  is  evident 


METHODS  IN  THE  RECITATION         209 

that  an  answer  cannot  exceed  the  understanding  of  the 
question  in  clearness. 

To  be  clear,  a  question  must  be  free  from  obscure 
wording.  One  primary  teacher,  seeking  to  show  how 
each  animal  is  adapted  to  the  life  it  must  live,  asked 
the  class,  "Why  has  a  cat  fur  and  a  duck  feathers?" 
Just  what  did  she  mean  for  the  child  to  answer?  Did 
she  mean  to  inquire  why  a  cat  has  fur  instead  of  feathers, 
and  a  duck  feathers  instead  of  fur,  or  did  she  mean  to 
ask  why  each  has  its  own  particular  coating  regardless 
of  the  other?  Another  teacher  asked,  "Why  did  Jesus's 
parents  go  up  to  Jerusalem  when  Jesus  was  twelve 
years  old?"  Did  he  mean  to  ask  why  they  went  when 
Jesus  was  just  at  this  age,  or  did  he  mean  to  ask  why 
they  went  at  all,  the  age  of  Jesus  being  incidental? 
One  can  only  guess  at  his  meaning,  hence  the  answer 
could  at  best  be  but  a  guess. 

Questions  to  be  within  the  learner's  grasp. — 
If  questions  are  to  be  clear  to  the  child  they  must  deal 
with  matter  within  his  grasp.  These  questions  are 
taken  from  an  intermediate  quarterly:  "Why  was  the 
New  Testament  written?  What  was  the  purpose  of 
the  book  of  Revelation?  Fit  the  epistle  of  Paul  into 
the  story  of  his  life.  What  is  meant  by  inspiration? 
What  are  the  reasons  for  calling  the  Bible  the  most 
wonderful  book  in  the  world?"  These  questions  are  all 
clear  enough  so  far  as  their  wording  is  concerned,  but 
they  belong  to  the  college  or  theological  seminary  age 
instead  of  to  the  intermediate  age.  While  our  ques- 
tions should  make  our  pupils  think,  they  must  not  go 
over  their  heads,  for  one  does  not  commonly  think  on 
a  question  whose  very  meaning  is  beyond  his  grasp! 

Some  questions  lack  definiteness  because  several  cor- 
rect answers  could  be  given  to  the  question.    Here  are 


2IO  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

a  few  such:  What  did  Paul  claim  concerning  one  of 
his  epistles?  What  did  Moses  do  when  he  came  down 
from  the  mountain?  What  were  the  priests  of  the 
temple  required  to  have?  What  happened  when  Jesus 
was  crucified?  What  of  John  the  Baptist?  What  about 
Ruth  and  Naomi?  What  did  Judas  become?  No  one 
of  these  questions  asks  any  definite  thing.  To  answer 
any  of  them  the  pupil  must  guess  at  the  particular 
thing  the  teacher  has  in  mind.  Many  answers  may 
be  given  to  each  question  which  are  as  correct  and 
which  answer  the  question  as  well  as  the  answer  the 
teacher  seeks  from  the  pupil.  Such  questioning  comes 
either  from  lack  of  clearness  and  definiteness  in  the 
teacher's  thinking,  with  a  consequent  uncertainty  as 
what  he  really  does  mean  to  ask,  or  else  from  a  mental 
laziness  which  shrinks  from  the  effort  necessary  to 
formulate  the  question  definitely. 

Questions  should  stimulate  thought. — Questions 
should  be  thought-provoking.  Usually  it  is  a  mistake 
to  ask  questions  that  can  be  answered  by  a  simple 
Yes  or  No,  though  there  are  occasions  when  this  may 
be  done.  For  example,  children  will  not  be  required 
to  think  when  asked  such  questions  as.  Was  Moses 
leader  of  the  Israelites?  or  Did  Jesus  want  his  disciples 
to  keep  children  away  from  him?  But  they  will  require 
thought  to  answer  Yes  or  No  to  such  questions  as, 
Should  Esther  have  asked  that  Haman  be  hanged? 
or,  Can  God  forgive  us  for  a  wrong  act  if  we  are  not 
penitent? 

Leading  questions,  or  questions  that  suggest  the  an- 
swer, do  not  encourage  thought.  To  ask,  Do  you  not 
think  that  God  is  pained  when  we  do  wrong?  or  What 
ought  you  to  say  in  return  when  some  one  has  done 
you  a  favor?  is  to  leave  the  child  himself  too  little  to 


METHODS  IN  THE  RECITATION         211 

do  in  answering.  The  alternative  question,  or  the  ques- 
tion that  simply  allows  the  choice  between  two  sug- 
gested possibilities  is  also  fruitless  so  far  as  demanding 
thought  is  concerned.  In  a  question  like,  Was  Paul 
a  Gentile  or  was  he  a  Jew?  the  bright  child  can  usually 
tell  from  the  teacher's  inflection  how  to  answer.  In 
any  case  he  will  run  an  even  chance  of  giving  the  right 
answer  from  sheer  guessing. 

The  order  of  questioning. — It  is  a  mistake  to  ask 
questions  in  serial  order,  so  that  each  child  knows 
just  when  he  is  to  be  called  upon.  This  method  invites 
carelessness  and  inattention.  There  should  be  no  set 
order,  nor  should  a  child  who  has  just  been  called  upon 
feel  that  he  is  now  safe  from  further  questioning.  The 
element  of  uncertainty  as  to  when  the  next  question 
will  come  is  a  good  incentive  to  alertness.  The  pupil 
who  shows  signs  of  mischief  or  inattention  may  well 
become  the  immediate  mark  for  a  question,  and  thereby 
be  tided  past  the  danger  point. 

Usually  the  question  should  be  addressed  to  the 
entire  class,  and  then  a  pause  of  a  few  seconds  ensue 
before  the  one  who  is  to  answer  is  designated.  Care 
must  be  taken,  however,  not  to  wait  too  long  between 
asking  the  question  and  calling  the  name  of  the  one 
expected  to  answer,  for  attention  and  curiosity  quickly 
fall  away,  and  time  and  interest  are  lost  and  the  recita- 
tion becomes  slow. 

The  reception  of  answers. — The  teacher's  reception 
of  the  child's  answer  is  almost  as  important  as  the 
manner  of  asking  the  question.  First  of  all,  the  teacher 
must  be  interested  in  the  answer.  This  interest  must 
be  real,  and  must  show  in  the  manner.  Not  to  look 
into  the  eyes  of  the  child  who  is  answering  is  to  fail  to 
pay  the  courtesy  due  one  who  is  conversing  with  us; 


212  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

it  is  not  only  bad  manners  but  worse  pedagogy.  The 
interested,  sympathetic  eye  of  the  teacher  has  a  won- 
derful power  of  encouragement  and  stimulus  to  the 
child,  while  an  attitude  of  indifference  on  the  part  of 
the  teacher  is  at  once  fatal  to  his  enthusiasm.  One  of 
the  besetting  sins  of  many  teachers  is  to  repeat  th^ 
pupils'  answers  after  them.  This  habit  probably  has 
its  rise  in  mental  unreadiness  on  the  part  of  the  teacher, 
who  repeats  what  the  child  has  just  said  while  getting 
ready  to  ask  the  next  question.  Besides  being  a  great 
waste  of  time,  the  repeating  of  answers  is  discourteous, 
and  is  a  source  of  distraction  and  annoyance  to  pupils. 
Finally,  we  may  say  that  good  questioning  on  the 
part  of  the  teacher  leads  to  questions  on  the  part  of 
the  pupils.  The  relations  between  teacher  and  class 
always  should  be  such  that  the  children  feel  free  to 
ask  questions  on  any  points  of  the  lesson,  and  they 
should  be  encouraged  to  do  so.  The  teacher  must  have 
the  tact  and  skill,  however,  not  to  be  led  away  from  the 
topic  by  irrelevant  questions  nor  to  be  required  to 
waste  time  by  discussing  unimportant  points  which 
may  be  brought  in.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  valuable 
time  is  sometimes  lost  in  adult  classes  in  discussing 
controversial  questions  that  ought  not  to  have  been 
asked. 

THE   STORY  METHOD 

The  use  of  the  story  method  of  instruction  has  been 
mentioned  many  times  in  the  course  of  our  discussion. 
It  will  still  be  worth  while,  however,  to  note  a  few  of 
the  principles  upon  which  the  successful  telling  of 
stories  depends. 

First  of  all,  a  story  is — just  a  story!  It  is  not  an 
argument,  nor  an  explanation,  not  a  description,  nor 


METHODS  IN  THE  RECITATION        213 

a  lecture  in  disguise.  A  story  is  a  narrative  of  a  series 
of  events,  which  may  be  either  real  or  imaginary.  These 
events  are  so  related  as  to  form  a  closely  connected 
unity  from  beginning  to  end,  and  they  are  of  such 
nature  as  to  appeal  to  imagination,  interest,  and  emo- 
tion more  than  to  the  intellect.  The  successful  handling 
of  the  story  depends  on  two  chief  factors:  (1)  the  plan 
or  arrangement  of  the  story  itself,  and  (2)  skill  in  telling 
the  story. 

The  story  itself. — The  story  must  not  be  too  long, 
or  interest  will  weaken  and  attention  will  flag.  It 
must  have  an  interesting  beginning,  so  that  attention 
and  anticipation  are  aroused  from  the  very  first  sen- 
tence. *'Once  upon  a  time. . . ."  "A  long  time  ago 
when  the  fairies. . . ."  "There  once  Kved  a  king  who 
. . . ." — these  all  contain  a  hint  of  mystery  or  of  in- 
teresting possibiKties  certain  to  invite  response  from 
children.  The  commonplace  beginning  is  illustrated  in 
a  story  in  a  primary  leaflet  which  starts,  "There  was 
once  a  mother,  who  loved  her  child  as  all  mothers  do." 
There  is  no  invitation  here  to  imagination  or  anticipa- 
tion, and  the  evident  attempt  to  enforce  a  moral  truth 
in  the  opening  sentence  detracts  from  its  effectiveness. 

The  major  characters  of  the  story  should  be  intro- 
duced in  the  opening  sentences.  The  story  should  pos- 
sess a  close-knit  unity,  and  not  admit  incidental  or 
supplemental  characters  or  events  that  play  no  direct 
part  in  the  sequel.  It  must  be  so  planned  as  to  proceed 
to  a  climaXj  and  this  climax  should  be  reached  without 
unnecessary  deviations  and  wanderings.  We  all  know 
that  type  of  story  in  which  the  main  point  is  all  but 
lost  in  a  multiplicity  of  unnecessary  details.  On  the 
other  hand,  points  necessary  to  the  climax  must  not 
be  omitted.    The  climax  may  be  the  end  of  the  story, 


214  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

or  an  ending  may  be  provided  following  the  climax. 
In  either  case  the  ending  should  leave  the  mind  of  the 
listener  at  rest  as  to  the  outcome.  That  is  to  say, 
there  should  remain  no  mystery  or  uncertainty  or  un- 
pleasant feeling  of  incompleteness.  The  ending  of  a 
story  should  be  as  carefully  phrased  as  its  beginning. 
Even  if  the  story  has  a  sad  ending,  which  is  usually 
not  best  in  children's  stories,  it  should  have  some  ele- 
ment in  it  which  makes  such  a  conclusion  inevitable, 
and  so  leaves  the  mind  in  a  sense  satisfied. 

Guiding  principles. — The  rules  to  guide  in  planning 
the  story  itself  may,  then,  be  stated  as  foUows: 

1.  Decide  on  the  truth  to  he  conveyed,  and  make  the 
story  lead  up  to  this. 

2.  Use  great  care  to  compel  interest  and  anticipation 
through  an  effective  beginning. 

3.  Plan  to  have  the  body  of  the  story  reasonably 
brief,  and  to  make  the  main  truth  stand  out  in  a  climax. 
Eliminate  all  comphcations  or  irrelevant  matter  that 
does  not  aid  in  leading  up  to  the  climax.  Elaborate 
and  stress  all  features  that  help  in  making  the  impres- 
sion to  be  attained  in  the  climax. 

4.  Make  the  ending  such  as  to  leave  in  the  mind 
a  feeling  that  the  story  was  satisfactory  and  complete. 

Telling  the  story. — The  effective  story  must  be  told. 
It  cannot  be  read  without  losing  something  of  spon- 
taneity and  attractiveness.  It  cannot  even  be  com- 
mitted to  memory  and  repeated;  for  here  also  is  lacking 
something  of  the  living  glow  and  appeal  that  come 
from  having  the  words  spring  fresh  and  warm  from  the 
mind  that  is  actually  thinking  and  feeling  them.  Most 
story-tellers  find  that  it  pays  to  work  out  carefully  and 
commit  to  memory  the  opening  and  closing  sentences 
of  a  story;  tiie  phrasing  is  so  important  here  tiiat  it 


METHODS  IN  THE  RECITATION         215 

should  not  be  left  to  chance.  But  the  body  of  the 
story  is  better  given  extemporaneously  even  if  the 
wording  is  not  as  perfect  as  it  could  be  made  by  reading 
or  reciting  the  matter. 

Before  trying  to  tell  a  story  before  his  class,  the 
teacher  should  rehearse  it  several  times.  Nothing  but 
practice  will  give  the  ease,  certainty,  and  spontaneity 
necessary  to  good  story-telling.  Even  professional  story- 
tellers realize  that  they  do  not  tell  a  new  story  well 
until  they  have  told  it  a  number  of  times.  Perhaps 
this  is  in  part  because  one  never  enjoys  telling  a  story 
until  he  is  sure  he  can  tell  it  well,  and  so  get  a  response 
from  his  listeners.  And  one  never  tells  a  story  really 
well  unless  he  himself  enjoys  both  the  story  and  its 
telling.  One  never  brings  the  full  effectiveness  of  a 
story  to  bear  on  his  hearers  unless  he  himself  enters 
fully  into  its  appreciation,  and  moves  himself  while 
stirring  the  emotions  of  those  who  listen. 

The  right  atmosphere  required. — Second  in  impor- 
tance only  to  preparing  himself  for  the  telling  of  the 
story  is  the  preparing  of  the  class  to  Hsten.  The  right 
atmosphere  of  thought,  attitude  and  feeling  should  be 
created  for  the  story  before  it  is  begun.  A  primary 
teacher  was  about  to  begin  a  story  whose  purpose  was 
to  show  how  God  cares  for  the  birds  by  giving  them 
feathers  to  keep  them  warm,  wings  for  swift  flying,  and 
cozy  nests  for  their  homes,  when  suddenly  a  Httle  bird 
flew  in  through  the  classroom  window  and  was  killed 
before  the  class  by  dashing  against  the  wall.  Of  course 
the  right  atmosphere  for  her  story  was  then  impossible, 
and  she  wisely  left  it  for  another  time. 

The  approach  to  the  story  can  be  made  by  some 
question  or  suggestion  relating  to  the  pupils'  own 
exp^^ice,  by  a  sentence  or  two  of  explanation,  or  by 


2i6  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION^ 

an  illustration  dealing  with  matters  familiar  to  the 
class.  But  whatever  device  is  used,  the  introduction 
should  prepare  the  minds  of  the  class  to  receive  the 
story  by  turning  their  thought  in  the  direction  which 
the  story  is  to  take.  It  is  also  important  that  any  new 
terms  or  unfamiliar  situations  which  are  to  be  used 
in  the  story,  and  which  might  not  be  understood  by 
the  class,  shall  be  cleared  up  before  the  story  is  begun. 

Arts  and  devices  of  the  story-teller. — The  skillful 
story-teller  will  soon  learn  to  use  certain  arts  and  de- 
vices to  make  the  telling  more  effective.  One  such 
device  is  the  use  of  direct  discourse;  that  is,  instead  of 
telling  about  the  giants,  the  fairies,  the  animals,  give 
them  human  speech  and  let  them  speak  for  themselves, 
like  the  bear  in  Little  Red  Riding  Hood.  Another 
effective  device  is  that  of  repeating  in  the  course  of 
the  story  certain  important  words  or  phrases  until 
from  this  repetition  they  stand  out  and  become  em- 
phasized. Some  of  the  best  story-tellers  make  effective 
use  of  pauses,  thus  creating  a  situation  of  curiosity  and 
suspense  in  the  minds  of  the  listeners.  The  pause  must 
be  neither  too  long  nor  too  short,  nor  can  any  tell  just 
how  long  it  ought  to  be  except  from  the  response  of  the 
children  themselves,  which  the  teacher  must  be  able 
to  sense  accurately  and  unfaiKngly.  Much  may  be 
added  to  the  effect  of  stories  by  skillful  use  of  the  various 
arts  of  expression,  such  as  facial  expression,  voice  tone, 
quality,  and  inflection,  and  gesture.  The  use  of  mim- 
icry, imitation,  and  impersonation  is  also  very  effective 
if  this  ability  comes  naturally  to  the  one  who  attempts 
to  use  it,  but  these  would  better  be  omitted  than  poorly 
done. 

Good  stories  sometimes  lose  much  of  their  effective- 
ness by  having  the  moral  stated  at  the  end,  or  by  having 


METHODS  IN  THE  RECITATION        217 

an  attempt  at  moralizing  too  evident  in  the  telling 
of  the  story.  A  story  which  has  a  lesson  inherent  in 
the  story  itself  will  teach  its  own  moral  if  it  is  well 
told.  If  the  truth  to  be  conveyed  is  not  clear  to  the 
child  from  the  story,  it  will  hardly  appeal  to  him  by 
having  it  tacked  on  at  the  end. 

We  have,  then,  come  to  the  end  of  our  brief  study 
of  the  teaching  of  religion.  We  have  seen  some  of 
its  principles  and  methods,  and  have  discovered  these 
at  work  in  various  illustrations  and  applications.  It 
now  remains  to  realize  that  these  are  all  to  be  found 
in  brief  epitome  in  the  work  of  the  Great  Teacher. 
For  Jesus  was  first  of  all  a  teacher^  rather  than  a  preacher. 
And  as  a  teacher  he  supplied  the  model  which  antici* 
pated  all  modern  psychology  and  scientific  pedagogy, 
and  gave  us  in  his  concrete  example  and  method  a  stand- 
ard which  the  most  skillful  among  us  never  wholly 
attain.  While  we  may  love  Jesus  as  a  friend,  come 
to  him  as  a  comforter  and  helper,  seek  to  follow  him 
as  a  guide,  and  worship  him  as  a  Saviour,  it  will  be 
well  for  us  now  and  then  momentarily  to  place  these 
relations  in  the  background  and  study  him  just  as  a 
teacher. 

Jesus  possessed  an  attractive,  inspiring,  compelling 
personality.  People  naturally  came  to  him  with  their 
questions  and  problems.  His  quick  sympathy,  ready 
understanding,  and  unerring  insight  invited  friendship, 
confidence,  and  devotion.  He  was  ever  sure  of  his 
"great  objective,"  and  whether  he  was  teaching  his 
disciples  stupendous  truths  about  the  kingdom  of  God, 
or  whether  he  was  pointing  the  wayward  woman  the 
way  to  a  reconstructed  Kfe,  the  welfare  of  the  living 
soul  before  him  was  his  controlling  thought.     Jesus 


2i8  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

had  a  true  sense  of  the  value  of  a  life,  and  no  life  was 
too  humble  or  too  unpromising  for  him  to  lavish  upon 
it  all  the  wealth  of  his  interest  and  all  the  power  of  his 
sympathy  and  helpfulness.  He  did  not  feel  that  his 
time  was  poorly  spent  when  he  was  teaching  small 
groups,  and  many  of  the  choicest  gems  of  his  teaching 
were  given  to  a  mere  handful  of  earnest  listeners  seated 
at  his  feet. 

In  all  his  teaching  Jesus  manifested  a  deep  reverence 
for  vital  truth.    He  told  his  disciples,  "The  truth  shall 
make  you  free."     He  was  never  afraid  of  truth,  but 
accepted  it  reverently,  even  when  it  ran  counter  to 
accepted  authority.     Nor  did  Jesus  ever  lose  time  or 
opportunity  in  teaching  trivial  and  unessential  matters 
to  his  hearers;  the  knowledge  he  gave  them  was  always 
of  such  fruitful  nature  that  they  could  at  once  apply 
it  to  their  living.     Jesus's  teaching  carried  over;  it 
showed  its  effect  in  changed  attitudes  of  Hfe,  in  new 
purposes,   compelKng  ideals,   and  great   loyalties  and 
devotions.     Out  of  a  band  of  commonplace  fishermen 
and  ordinary  men  he  made  a  company  of  evangelists  and 
reformers  whose  work  and  influence  changed  the  course 
of  civilization.     Every  person  who    responded  to    his 
instruction  felt  the  glow  of  a  new  ambition  and  the 
desire  to  have  a  part  in  the  great  mission.    Thus  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  entered  into  the  actual  life  and  con- 
duct of  his  pupils.     The  truths  he  taught  did  not  lie 
dormant  as  so  much  mere  attainment  of  knowledge. 
They  took  root  and  blossomed  into  action,  into  trans- 
formed lives,  and  into  heroic  deeds  of  kindly  service. 
The  constant  keynote  and  demand  of  Jesus's  teaching 
was  shown  forth  in  his,  "He  that  heareth  these  sa)dngs 
of  mine  and  doeth  them";  he  was  never  satisfied  with- 
out the  doing. 


METHODS  IN  THE  RECITATION         219 

Much  is  to  be  learned  from  the  technique  of  Jesus's 
teaching,  imperfect  though  the  account  is  of  his  instruc- 
tion. He  always  met  his  hearers  on  the  plane  of  their 
own  Uves.  He  would  begin  his  instruction  with  some 
common  and  famiHar  experience,  and  lead  by  questions 
or  illustrations  to  the  truth  he  wished  to  present.  In 
this  way,  without  the  use  of  technical  words  or  long 
phrases,  he  was  able  to  teach  deep  and  significant 
truths  even  to  relatively  uninformed  minds.  Jesus 
appealed  to  the  imagination  through  picturesque  illus- 
trations and  parables.  He  made  his  hearers  think  for 
the  truth  they  reached,  and  so  presented  each  truth 
that  its  application  to  some  immediate  problem  or 
need  could  not  be  escaped.  He  was  always  interesting 
in  his  lessons,  for  they  did  not  deal  with  unimportant 
matters  nor  with  tiresome  platitudes.  He  never  failed 
to  have  definite  aim  or  conclusion  toward  which  his 
teaching  was  directed,  and  the  words  or  questions  he 
used  in  his  instruction  moved  without  deviation  toward 
the  accomplishment  of  this  aim.  He  was  too  clear, 
too  deeply  in  earnest,  and  too  completely  the  master 
of  what  he  was  teaching  ever  to  wander,  or  be  uncer- 
tain or  to  waste  time  and  opportunity.  He  felt  too 
compelling  a  love  for  those  he  taught  ever  to  fail  at  his 
task. 

Finally,  Jesus  was  himseK  the  embodiment  of  the 
truths  and  ideals  he  offered  others.  He  lived  the  les- 
sons he  desired  his  pupils  to  learn.  He  rendered  con- 
crete in  himself  the  religion  he  would  have  his  followers 
adopt.  His  Hfe  was  a  lesson  which  all  could  learn  and 
follow. 

I.  Which  type  of  recitation  method  do  you  most  com- 
monly employ?  Which  do  you  like  best?  Do  you  com- 
bine the  several  methods  occasionally  in  the  same  recita- 


220  HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 

tion?     Do  you  plan  which  is  best  for  each  particular 
occasion? 

2.  To  what  extent  do  you  use  the  topical  method?  Do 
your  pupils  succeed  in  discussing  the  topics  with  fair  com- 
pleteness? Do  you  always  supplement  with  matter  of 
your  own,  or  expand  the  topics  by  asking  questions  when 
the  discussion  has  been  incomplete? 

3.  Stenographic  reports  of  various  recitations  have 
shown  that  teachers  often  themselves  use  from  two  to  three 
or  fotu*  times  as  many  words  in  the  lesson  hour  as  all  the 
pupils  combined.  Do  you  believe  that  for  yoimg  pupils 
this  is  good  teaching?  Have  you  any  accurate  notion  of 
the  time  you  yourself  take?    Do  you  talk  too  much? 

4.  Study  your  questioning  in  the  recitation  and  de- 
termine as  well  as  you  can  which  of  the  principles  of  good 
questioning  you  are  most  successful  in  applying;  which 
you  are  least  successful  in  applying. 

5.  To  what  extent  do  you  use  the  story  as  a  method  of 
instruction  ?  How  do  you  judge  you  would  rank  as  a  story- 
teller? To  what  extent  have  you  studied  the  art  of  story- 
telling? Are  you  constantly  improving?  What  difference 
have  you  noted  in  the  interest  of  a  class  when  a  story  is 
told  and  when  it  is  read? 

FOR  FURTHER  READING 

Betts,  The  Recitation. 

Hamilton,  The  Recitation. 

Home,  Story-Telling,  Questioning  and  Stud5dng. 

St.  John,  Stories  and  Story-Telling. 

Houghton,  Telling  Bible  Stories. 


INDEX 


Adolescence,    subject    matter 
for,  117 

Aim,  the 
the  child  determining,  30 
of  religious  instruction,  42 
religious  habits  as,  193 

Appreciation 

as  an  aim  of  instruction,  86 
cultivating  religious,  194 

Approach,  psychological  mode 
of,  52 

Art 
in  religious  teaching,  72 
types  of  in  curriculum,  125 

Assignment  of  lesson,  197 

Attitudes 

religious  as  aim,  45 
to  be  cultivated,  76 
toward  the  school,  77 
the  child's  spiritual,  84 

Bible,  the 

the  teacher's  knowledge  of,  23 
the  child's  knowledge  of,  68 
continuing  interest  in,  82 
as  a  source  of  material,  i il 
and  reason,  167 

Conservation,  religious,  33 

Child,  the 
as  a  Christian,  34 
his  concept  of  God,  59 
his  concept  of  religion,  63 


as  the  great  objective,  30 
and  his  spiritual  growth,  31 

Christian,  the  child,  34 

Church,  the 

the  child's  knowledge  of,  69 
participation  iu  activities  of, 

lOI 

loyalty  to,  88 

Danger  Points 

in  instruction,  161 

how  avoided,  162 
Deduction,  in  religion,  190 
Distractions 

freedom   from   in   recitation, 

155 
avoiding  unnecessary,  156 

Dramatic,  the 
children  and,  176 
use  of  in  teaching,  176 

Drill,  place  of,  192 

Duty,  as  a  virtue,  99 

Expression 
religious  in  the  home,  106 
as  a  mode  of  learning,  44 
in  social  service,  lOl 

Giving,  training  in,  104 

God 
the  child's  concept  of,  59 
harm   from    wrong    concepts 
of,  60 


the  teacher's  knowledge  of,  25         made  the  daily  counselor,  100 

321 


222 


HOW  TO  TEACH  RELIGION 


Habit 

preventing  the,  of  defeat,  8i 

religious,  as  aim,  93 

the  growth  of,  94 
Heroes,  appeal  of  to  child,  89 
Home,   religious  expression  in, 
106 

Ideals,  85 

Imagination 

use  of  in  religion,  170 
how  to  appeal  to,  172 

Induction,  use  of  in  religion,  187 

Instruction 
response  as  a  test  of,  53 
various  tests  of,  56,  107 

Interest 

as  a  test  of  attitude,  79 

in  the  Bible,  82 

how  to  appeal  to,  151 

Jesus,  an  ideal  teacher,  217 

Knowledge 

religious  as  an  aim,  44 
of  most  worth,  58 
of  the  Bible,  67 
of  the  church,  69 

Laboratory,  work  in  religion, 
102 

Lessons 
Uniform,  the,  134 
Graded,  the,  134 
in  text  book  form,  134 
different  tj^Des  of,  183 

Life 

requirements  of  for  religion,  43 


religious  teaching  and,  91 

a  code  for,  95 
Loti,  Pierre,  quoted,  61 
Loyalty,  cultivation  of,  88 

Material,  for  instruction 

means  instead  of  end,  35 

adapting  to  child,  50 

chapter  on,  109 

sources  of,  iii 

in  story  form,  118 

organization  of,  126 
Measures 

of  success,  38 

of  child's  progress,  39 
Memory,  the 

laws  of,  177 

training  of,  179 
Method 

of  the  recitation,  201 

the  topical,  202 

the  lecture,  204 

the  question-and-answer,  206 

the  story,  212 
Music 

in  worship,  72 

in  the  curriculum,  126 

Nature,  as  a  source  of  ma- 
terial, 122 

Neglect,  and  stress  of  subject 
matter,  51 

Obedience,  as  a  virtue,  97 

Objective,  the 
chapter  on,  30 
for  the  teacher,  30 
effect  of  on  teaching,  37 


INDEX 


223 


Organization,  of  material 
diapter  on,  129 
different  types  of,  130 

Personality 

building  of,  16 

chart  for,  18 
Pictures 

types  of  in  use,  125 

appeal  of  to  child,  174 
Plan,  the  lesson,  141 
Presentation,  and  response,  55 
Principles,  foundation  in  teach- 
ing, 42 

Question,  the,  method,  206 
Questioning,  principles  of,  207 

Recitation,  the,  201 

Religion 
the  child's  concept  of,  63 
related  to  living,  64,  92 
and  art,  72 

influence  of  music  in,  72 
laboratory  work  in,  102 

Review,  the,  196 

School,  the  church 

pupils'  attitude  toward,  77 

the  spirit  of,  78 
Score  Card,  for  personality,  19 
Service 

social  as  expression,  101 

tsaining  in  social,  105 


Singing,  in  worship,  104 
Story,  the 

as  lesson  material,  118 

other  than  Bible,  120 

method  of,  212 

principles  of  telling,  214 
Stress,  and  neglect  of  material 

51 
Subject  Matter 

as  means  to  end,  35 

selecting  right,  48 

chapter  on,  109 

sources  of,  iii 


Teacher,  the 

chapter  on,  13 

types  of,  14 

preparation  of,  21 

as  a  student,  27 
Teaching 

technique  of,  148 

measures  of  effective,  165 

types  of,  183 
Text  Books,  of  religion,  139 
Thinking 

required  in  religion,  165 

and  Bible  study,  167 

Uniform  Lessons,  134,  135 

Wells,  H.  G.,  quoted,  60 
Worship,  in  church  school,  104. 


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